Serving Sauk County and the surrounding area for over 100 years
BQH celebrates 100 years
Firm-wide food pantry drive
Firm to participate in April 25 Earth Day Energy Fair
Boardman Quale Hartmann Celebrates 100th Anniversary
The year 2010 marks the 100th anniversary of what is today the Boardman Quale Hartmann law firm. Over the past one hundred years, the firm has served anyone and everyone in need of legal services, ranging from local small business owners, farmers, and families, to such luminaries as Frank Lloyd Wright and August Derleth. On July 1, 2005, Baraboo's Quale Hartmann, S.C. merged with the Madison-based Boardman Law Firm. Now with more lawyers bringing additional depth and expertise, Baraboo's Boardman Quale Hartmann can continue to offer the legal services that our growing community needs.
The law firm was started by James H. Hill, who graduated from Spring Green High School at the age of fifteen. In 1906, he was elected Clerk of Court for Sauk County. While in that office, Mr. Hill studied law on his own, and wrote and passed the Wisconsin Bar examination in 1909.
Early members of the law firm included Wisconsin's 65th woman lawyer, Erma Miller. Ms. Miller also passed the Wisconsin Bar examination without any college education in 1927. She practiced law in the firm's Baraboo office until illness forced her into retirement in 1970. Another early member was James H. Hill, Jr. He joined the law firm after graduating from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1933. Rounding out the first fifty years of the law firm's existence, Glenn Quale became the law firm's fourth lawyer in 1952.
More recently, Circuit Court Judges James Evenson and Guy Reynolds are former members of the firm, as is Baraboo's City Attorney, Mark Reitz. Thomas Groeneweg has served area businesses with real estate expertise since 1975. Just a Lodi farmboy (as he likes to say), Forrest Hartmann started with the firm in 1966 and continues to provide leadership to attorneys both old and new.
Over the years, the firm's attorneys have been active in Sauk County's not-for-profit community. Mr. Hartmann was one of the founders of the International Crane Foundation and was instrumental in the creation of Friends of the Campus, which provides support for the University of Wisconsin, Baraboo/Sauk County campus. Currently, attorneys from Boardman Quale Hartmann serve on the boards of several area charitable organizations, including the Al. Ringling Theatre, the Aldo Leopold Foundation, River Arts, and the Greater Sauk County Community Foundation.
A number of special events are planned to commemorate Boardman Quale Hartmann's centennial year. The law firm has been a long-time supporter of the fine arts in Sauk County, most recently hosting the Chamber Orchestra of the Kremlin, from Moscow, and will be sponsoring such events in Baraboo and Sauk Prairie throughout the year. Besides sponsorship of the fine arts, Boardman Quale Hartmann will be announcing other commemorative events and community service projects during the next few months.
