Clough and Mabelle Gates

Mabelle Favell Gates was born in 1876 in rural Missouri, and moved to the Superior area in 1891. Mabelle was active throughout her life in natural sciences, bird study, and gardening. She and Clough Gates married in Superior in 1904, and lived for the rest of their lives at their home in Superior’s Central Park area. Mabelle was a leader and volunteer with their Presbyterian church and her community, and especially active with her efforts to care for injured birds and to improve habitat for all wildlife. Known to many in Superior as the “Bird Woman” and the “Busy Garden Lady,” she passed away in Superior in 1956.

Clough Gates, born in 1880 in Superior, graduated from Superior High School in 1899 and attended Carleton College for two years. He then transferred to the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he was a 1903 journalism graduate. Clough became reporter, writer, and eventually executive editor and vice president for the Superior Evening Telegram daily newspaper, positions he held for the rest of his life. Among his many other works, Clough authored Superior: An Outline of History, while he was Chairman of the Superior Centennial commission in 1954. Hewas also active in politics, and represented Wisconsin as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1924, and later ran for Wisconsin lieutenant governor. Clough, a dedicated curler, tennis player, and golfer in his leisure time, also served as a University of Wisconsin-Madison Regent. He was well known in Superior and throughout the state for his generous, kind heart and his support of education and literacy for everyone. He passed away in Superior in 1965.