HELENVILLE (or thereabout) -- Somewhere within the triangle that has its points at Helenville, Jefferson and Johnson Creek lives a man who is an inventor, skilled tradesman, genius and perhaps more than anything, rustic mad scientist. In less romantic terms, Bill Pendleton is a self-sufficient man who lives just north of Highway 18 on Coffee Road. The map says he's closest to Helenville. A visit to Pendleton's substantial property, with its large, deteriorating barn and pleasant farmhouse and yard, is a treat for a person who likes things rough and tumble, yet full of heart and soul.
Pendleton said he hasn’t worked under a boss since about 1973, and his look and demeanor stand testament. “I don’t like people telling me what to do,” he said, adding he enjoys the lifestyle he lives as a divorced/single man of 68 years with a great-granddaughter on the way. Living in rural southern Wisconsin suits Pendleton just fine. And his much-anticipated new progeny is going to be named Lily, in honor of his northern Wisconsin birthplace.
“When I need to talk to somebody, I go have a couple beers over at Tappers Bar in Johnson Creek,” Pendleton said, adding he is a former bar brawler from Antigo High School who now likes to grow flowers.
Pendleton grew up in the tiny, Langlade County town of Lily near the Wolf River and claims Stockbridge Native American ancestry. He traveled to Milwaukee to seek his fortune as a younger man, but the city became too much for the rurally reared young man and he escaped to the heart of Jefferson County, a place he views as his “southern Lily,” in 1979 after seeing an ad in the Milwaukee Journal for what is now his 80-acre farm. He purchased the property for $100,000. He said his ranch is now likely worth five times that.
Although the reason for the Daily Times visit to “Pendleton Land,” as he called it Thursday afternoon was to shoot a photo of the massive Johnsonville Brats Big Taste Grill he designed many years ago and was asked to overhaul a few weeks back, the short trip offered much more. Pendleton began a tour of his property by showing off the monster grill, which he built himself several years ago. He has been building grills of different sizes and cooking capabilities for everyone from Saz’s in Milwaukee and Johnsonville, to Glenn’s Market in Watertown. The Johnsonville grill has shown itself capable of grilling 30,000 pounds of sausage over three days at Italian Fest in Milwaukee. That comes to 150,000 sausages. Pendleton said his grills are particularly popular among the Italian communities of Milwaukee and Racine, where he has sold many.
“I build and maintain grills,” he said, adding his huge, Johnsonville grill will be sent to Florida for cooking duties when he is finished rehabbing it in a few days. “I won’t see this grill for another 10 years. It will be good for that long.” The grill is touted by Johnsonville as, “The World’s Largest Grill. Period.” “But, as you can see,” Pendlelton said, “this isn’t a showroom. This is a place to work on BBQ grills!”
Pendleton said grill-making came to him naturally because, among many other skills, he is a crack tool and die-maker, and has a knack for auto-body work. He worked to prepare many of the cars at the Wisconsin Dells Auto Museum for presentation. Scattered throughout the lower, northern section of Pendlelton’s property near a small creek are many of his other grills and inventions. Also on view are examples of Pendleton’s handiwork with stone and concrete. He is known around south-central and southeastern Wisconsin for his work as a handyman, as well as a handler of concrete.
“I’m a one-man band a lot of the time,” he said. His one-time firm, Pendleton Industries, provided 120,000 tons of concrete that now serves as base for the parking lots at Miller Park. The concrete was crushed and recycled from concrete that came from around Milwaukee County Stadium as it was being dismantled. “Some of my inventions will change the world,” Pendleton predicted as he showed off an oil-filter separator he said will go a long way toward keeping automobile oil filters out of landfills. In fact, many of Pendlelton’s inventions are geared toward recycling and preservation of the planet. He then showed off a can-crushing machine he designed that has been used at the Aztalan Yacht Club, Cap’n’s Corner and the Farmington Inn, which Pendleton used to run. Pendleton estimated the device has crushed as many as 3 million beer cans.
Pendleton has obtained a patent on a glass-crushing machine he designed in 1993, after making recycling a focus in 1992. Sitting in his yard are Pendleton’s creations for trench building and the installation of silt fences. Perhaps most intriguing of Pendleton’s recent ideas is a plan, which he is coordinating with Jefferson County Sheriff Paul Milbrath, to equip the Jefferson County Jail with water-saving, retro-fitted urinals for the men’s wing. He would eventually like to see the devices he designed used at the state and federal levels across the U.S. He predicts the retro-fittings could save billions of gallons of water and millions of dollars annually.
The sheriff’s department project may be one of the last of the year in Jefferson County for Pendleton, because he likes to spend his winters in Florida. “In November I’ll pack a job box and head down there to work on houses,” he said. “But I love living here and I’m very happy doing what I do. If you need something -- maybe you don’t even know what you need -- I can help you make it. If I’m into something, I’ll make it work. I make things you have never heard of, or seen in your life.”