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Clark County Township History |
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Clark County, Wisconsin, Townships
Name and Origins
written and contributed by Kay Scholtz <scholtz@tznet.com>
Note: There are presently 33 townships in Clark County.
Thirty-two townships are of standard size each covering six square miles.
The Township of Foster includes two 6 square mile areas.
 Beaver |
Butler |
Colby |
Dewhurst |
Eaton |
| Foster |
Fremont |
Grant |
Green Grove |
Hendren |
| Hewett |
Hixon |
Hoard |
Levis |
Longwood |
| Loyal |
Lynn |
Mayville |
Mead |
Mentor |
| Pine Valley |
Reseburg |
Seif |
Sherman |
Sherwood |
| Thorp |
Unity |
Warner |
Washburn |
Weston |
| Withee |
Worden |
York |
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At Clark County's
inception in 1853 the entire county was composed of one township and
the name chosen was Pine Valley. The county was larger than
today, including a portion of what is now southern Taylor County.
Both valleys and pines were abundant. Pines were harvested but
the valleys and the name remain. James O'Neill's lumbering
activities were the hub of Pine Valley in its early years. The
beginning of township division in the county occurred in 1856 when Pine
Valley was divided into three townships; Pine Valley, Levis, and
Weston. Other divisions followed as population increased until the 1920's when the last township was created leaving Clark County as we know it today. |
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In
November of 1856 Levis Township was created by an order of the county
board. The name was chosen to honor Mahlon and William K. Levis,
brothers born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, who located in the area in
1851. The Levis brothers arrived in Black River Falls about 1842
and erected a mill there and later built another at Morrison Creek,
Jackson County, WI. They came to the area of Levis and ran a mill
at this location for several years, until high water destroyed it,
causing them to move out. William Levis then farmed in Alma
Center and later kept taverns in Hixton, Trempealeau, and Osseo,
WI. He purchased acreage 1-½ miles north of Osseo in 1867
that he developed into a fine 360-acre farm. William died at
Osseo in 1897, brother Mahlon ventured to California in the
1870's. The first town meeting in Levis was held at the mouth of
Wedge's Creek. Originally Levis Township contained all of
Dewhurst, Washburn, and Sherwood Townships. It was left with its
present boundaries in 1901. |
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Weston
Township was also created along with Levis in November of 1856.
Originally this township was comprised of the entire county north of
Pine Valley Township and also 10 townships in Taylor County. It
was named for Samuel F. Weston who was one of the first settlers to
register land at this location. Mr. Weston was born about 1808 in
Sommerset County, Maine, and arrived in Weston Rapids, two miles north
of Neillsville, in 1853 with several others from Maine who engaged in
logging. He was one of the first local loggers in Clark County
independent of mills along the Black River. He died in 1864 at
Weston Rapids after a short illness that he acquired while working at
one of his logging camps. Samuel Weston was buried at La
Crosse. He owned camps on the Black and Chippewa Rivers and was
one of the largest landholders in Wisconsin at that time. Weston
Township was left with its present boundaries in 1900. |
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Lynn
Township was created by an act of the county board on March 21, 1862
originally including Fremont and a part of Grant Township. On
surveyor's field notes from the U. S. Government Survey, large numbers
of basswood trees were shown in the area. Basswood trees were
called Linden or Lynden trees by the surveyors, hence the name of Lynn. |
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The
name of Loyal was given to this township to attest to the loyalty of
the local citizens to the Union during the Civil War and their good
citizenship. The township was organized in March of 1865.
Originally Loyal consisted of much of the northeastern portion of Clark
County and a part of Taylor County. In 1873 Loyal Township was
left with its present boundaries. |
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An
act of the County Board on the 17th of December 1866, created the
Township of Mentor. The first town meeting was held in April of
1867. Honorable George W. King, a local resident, selected the
name. Mr. King was a native of Ohio and lived at one time near
Mentor, Ohio, home of President Haynes. George W. King was a
prominent man in early days and held the offices of assembly, district
attorney, sheriff, and county board clerk. The origin of the
name, Mentor, Ohio, came from Greek Literature. Mentor was the
tutor of Telemachus, son of Odysseus. |
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The
first town meeting at Grant Township was held April 7, 1868.
Grant was named in honor of General Ulysses S. Grant of Civil War fame
and later became president of our country. Two Post Offices
served the township in 1890. Pleasant Ridge was located in the
central part of the town. Maple Works was located in the
North-Eastern part of this township one-half mile south of the village
of Granton. Ulysses Grant died in 1885 at the age of 63. |
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On
July 20, 1869, the Clark County Board ordered the creation of this
township to take affect on March 1, 1870. Eaton was named for
Elijah and Frederick Eaton, two of the town's earliest settlers.
Born in New York, Elijah Eaton arrived in Clark County before
1855. He died in 1872, shortly after Eaton's organization, at the
age of 64 and was buried in the Greenwood City Cemetery. The
Eaton's established a saw mill and lumber industry in the
township. At its creation Eaton covered 5 other present day
townships in northern Clark County along with 10 townships in Taylor
County. Eaton was left with its present boundaries in 1911. |
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The township of Beaver was created
by an order of the county board on November 15, 1870 and the first town
meeting was held in April of 1871. Beaver was
named for the large number of beaver dams in the township. There
was at one time a highway in the town known as Beaver Dam Road.
Rock Creek, once hosting flood dams to aid in logging, flows through
the southern part of the township and unites with the Black
River. In 1874, Beaver was left with its boundaries of today. |
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The
first town meeting at Sherman was held in April of 1873. The
township was named for General W. T. Sherman. Some residents of
the town had marched with Sherman through Georgia during the Civil War,
a march in 1864 that weakened and split the Confederate Army, aiding
the war's end. During Grant's presidency Sherman was given
command of the entire U. S. Army and retired from that position in
1883. W. T. Sherman died in New York City in 1891. Veefkind and
Coles Corners were active communities during the logging days in
Sherman Township. |
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The
first meeting of York Township was held in April of 1873 as well.
A number of early settlers were natives of New York, "York State", and
named the township in honor of their home state. |
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The
Township of Hixon was organized in February of 1873 and its first
meeting was held in April of 1873. Originally Hixon was composed
of much of the northwest corner of Clark County along with several
townships in Taylor County. It was left with present day
boundaries in 1895. Hixon was named for Gideon Cooley Hixon, born
in Vermont in 1827. He was a graduate of West Point Academy and
later a wealthy lumberman of La Crosse. Hixon had large landholdings in
the northern part of the township when it was organized. G. C.
Hixon died in 1892 and is buried in La Crosse, WI, where a large
memorial statue honors his memory. |
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Washburn
Township held its first meeting in April of 1873 and at that time also
included Sherwood Township. It was named for C. C. Washburn,
governor of Wisconsin at the time of its inception. Washburn had
vast land holdings in Clark County with interests in logging. C.
C. was a native of Maine and from a very prominent family. He
settled in Wisconsin in 1842 setting up legal practice in Mineral
Point. At the onset of the Civil War Washburn organized a
regiment of Cavalry for Wisconsin and was titled as Major
General. He also served as a U. S. senator. In addition to
his logging interests he formed a partnership with John Crosby to
create the Washburn Crosby Flour Mill in Minneapolis, MN, that later
became known as General Mills and the manufacturer of Gold Medal
Flour. C. C. Washburn resided and conducted much of his business
at La Crosse, WI, and was buried there in 1882. He was also known
for his philanthropy. |
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The
county board created Colby in November of 1873 and its first town
meeting was held in April of 1874. Colby was named for Gardner L.
Colby (1810-1879) of Boston, Massachusetts. The township took its
name from the Colby Railway Station on the Wisconsin Central Railway
line that was built through the area shortly before the town's
organization. Gardner Colby, of the Colby-Philips Construction
Company, greatly funded and supervised building of 340 miles of
railroad for the Wisconsin Central Railway extending to Lake Superior
after retiring from a very successful business life in Boston.
Colby's interests involved merchandising, shipping, and woolen
enterprises. He was well known for his philanthropy, donating
large sums of money to Colby College in Waterville, Maine. As a
poor child he had worked in a potash factory at the age of 12 in
Waterville near the college that now bears his name. His son,
Charles Colby, was president of the Wisconsin Central Railway.
Gardner Colby died a year after his completion of the railway. |
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At
the same time as Colby's inception, Mayville was also formed. The
township was named after Charles Sumner May, an early settler, who's
house the first meeting was held at in 1874. Sumner May was born
in Tioga County, Pennsylvania, in 1827 and lived in Illinois in
1860. He came to Wisconsin prior to 1872 with his wife and
family. Mr. May died in Ingham County, Michigan, in 1903. |
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Unity
Township was created with present day boundaries in 1873. This
Township took its name from another railway station on the Wisconsin
Central Railway located within its borders named Unity. The
village of Unity was started in 1873 when D. J. Spaulding erected a
sawmill there. |
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Two
names preceded the name of Sherwood in this township's beginning.
The Township of Perkins was created by an order of the county board on
January 8, 1874 with the first meeting held in April of 1874.
Daniel Chapman Perkins and son Hugh Perkins resided in the township at
its onset. A petition of town citizens to the county board
requesting a name change from Perkins to Sherwood Forest was presented
in 1876 and the board accepted it. The name Sherwood Forest was
chosen by resident Elizabeth LaFlesh, wife of Capt. Thomas LaFlesh, as
the area resembled her homeland in England and her literary
interest. It was also suggested that C. C. Washburn influenced
the naming. In 1900 Sherwood Forest citizens asking to shorten
the name to Sherwood presented another petition to the county board and
their wish was granted. The motive of the residents was to help
promote growth in the township by dropping the notion that the area was
nothing but unproductive forestland, that it was fast becoming a farm
community where new settlers could prosper. |
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Fremont
was created by an order of the county board on March 11, 1874.
The township was named for Civil War Major General John C.
Fremont. John Fremont was a first candidate of the Republican
Party for President in 1856 and was well known for his denouncement of
slavery during the Civil War. He was given the title of "The man
who mapped the West". Fremont became governor of the Arizona
Territory from 1878 to 1883 and a first senator of California.
John Charles Fremont died in 1890. Early communities in the
township of Fremont were Yolo and Snow. |
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On
November 14, 1874, the county board created the township of
Warner. Warner's first meeting was held in April of 1875.
The township was named for Mark B. Warner, one of the county's earliest
settlers. Warner was a native of NY and first came to Black River
Falls, WI, in 1855. He followed the logging business for 26
years, locating and estimating pine lands for others in summers and
traveling as far as northern Wisconsin. Many adventures came his
way including numerous encounters with Indians and hunting bear for
sport. Mark Warner settled on his farm in Warner Township in
1871. He held positions as both town chairman and supervisor on
the Warner Town Board. Mr. Warner died in 1898 and was buried in
Greenwood City Cemetery. Warner Township was left with its
present boundaries in 1915. It formerly included the towns of
Butler and Mead also. |
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Hewett
Township was created by an order of the county board on November 20,
1874, with its first meeting held in April of 1875 at the hotel of
James Hewett, namesake of the town. Mr. Hewett came to Clark
County in 1856 with lumbering interests. He built a mill on
Wedge's Creek at Hewettville, in the township, which was destroyed by
fire in 1886. Hewettville also had a hotel, store, storehouses,
barn and other buildings. James Hewett aided in construction of
the first railroad to Neillsville, donated land for the old furniture
factory there, and built the first brick store in town - "Hewett &
Woods". He cleared 63 acres which he added to the city of
Neillsville and became its first mayor. James Hewett died in
1907. The community of Columbia is also located in Hewett. |
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The
first meeting of Thorp Township was held in April of 1876, after it's
creation by the county board January 21, 1876. Namesake of the
Town of Thorp was Joseph Gilbert Thorp Sr., a resident of Eau Claire,
WI, who settled there with his family in 1857. Mr. Thorp, born in
New York in 1812, was the constant president of the Eau Claire Lumber
Company, which at the time of Thorp's organization had large interests
in and around the township and a large farm within it. The Eau Claire
Lumber Co. was incorporated in 1866 and merged with the Mississippi
Logging Co. in 1887. Joseph Thorp also was active in building of
early railways, president of the YMCA of Eau Claire, and served as a
U.S. senator for Wisconsin. The Thorp family could be subjects of
a very interesting life story. Joseph Thorp's son, Joseph Jr.,
married Anne Allegra Longfellow, daughter of the famous poet, Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow. Joseph's daughter, Sarah, married Ole Bull
of Norway, a champion violinist of the world. Ole, 40 years her
senior, built a beautiful home for Sarah and their daughter on an
island in Norway. The Boardman family members were early settlers
in Thorp Township, arriving in about 1870. Thorp's present
boundaries were secured in 1893. |
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Withee
was created by the Clark County Board on June 11, 1879 and held its
first meeting in April of 1880 at the Bernard Brown home. The
township was named in honor of Niran H. Withee, a native of Maine born
in 1827. Niran Withee came to LaCrosse County, WI, in 1852 and on
to Clark County in 1870. He was heavily involved with lumbering
in the Black River Valley. Withee served as county treasurer in
1875 and was in the assembly for 2 terms. Mr. Withee organized
the Island Mill Lumber Company at La Crosse which he was head of until
his death. He built a large farm, stave and heading mill, and
cheese factory at Longwood, Clark County. Niran also owned a line
of towboats on the Mississippi River. He died at his home in La
Crosse in 1887. |
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After a 7-year period, the county board acted again on November
18, 1886, to create the township of Green Grove. The first town
meeting was held in April of 1887 at the Green Grove Post Office.
Green Grove took its name from the post office that already existed in
the northern part of the township prior to the town's creation.
The name of the Post Office was given by settlers who gathered at
William Zassenhaus' house, which had a grove of green trees nearby. |
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The
Township of Hoard was organized in 1889 being created from area taken
from the Town of Mayville. The namesake of Hoard was Wisconsin
ex-Governor, William Dempster Hoard. Hoard was born in
Stockbridge, NY, and came to Wisconsin in 1857. He joined WI 4th
Infantry at the onset of the Civil War and was stricken with break bone
fever in 1862. Hoard re-enlisted in 1864 serving until the war's
end. He was well known for creating the still existing national
farm magazine at Fort Atkinson, WI, known as "Hoard's Dairyman" that
had it's beginning in 1885. In 1915 W. D. Hoard was named as
Wisconsin's most distinguished citizen at the San Francisco World's
Fair. Hoard died in 1918. |
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Reseburg
was created by the county board on May 13, 1893 and met the first
Tuesday in April of 1894 at a schoolhouse on Zimmer's Corners.
The township was named for William Reseburg, an early settler and
member of the Clark County Board. Reseburg was born in 1845 in
Pommern, Prussia and came with his parents to Wisconsin in 1856.
He settled in Clark County in 1879 and began farming in what was then
Withee Township, purchasing 200 acres. Mr. Reseburg was active
early on in township politics. |
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At
the same date of Reseburg's creation, Worden was also formed. The
first town meeting was held at the Gorman schoolhouse. Ole
Samulson was the first town chairman elected in the township. The
township was named for Zephaniah Worden, an old resident and Civil War
veteran who fought with Pennsylvania's 45th Regiment, Company F.
Mr. Worden was born in New York and resided in what was then Thorp
Township in 1880. |
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The
county board created the township of Mead on November 16, 1895, and the
first meeting was held in April of 1896. Originally the township
included the Town of Butler as well. It was named after William
Henry Harrison Mead, a native of Pauldings, New York, better known as
"Harry" Mead. Mead came to Jefferson County, WI, when 9 years
old. He arrived in Clark County in 1865 first locating at what is
now Greenwood. He invested heavily in timberlands for 20 years,
farmed, and worked for Gates Land Company as agent. In 1902 he
began farming 2 ½ miles south of Withee and here
prospered. Mr. Mead was one of the oldest settlers on the Black
River in central Clark County. He served as town chairman and
county board member. William Mead died in 1911. |
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The
date of Longwood's inception was the same as that of Mead
Township. Longwood had been formerly a part of Hixon Township and
was named for the little hamlet in the township that got its name from
a long stretch of woods in the vicinity. The Smith family of
Rutland, Vermont, was one of the early settlers to the township
arriving in about 1878. |
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Seif
Township was created by an order of the Clark County Board on November
17, 1900. It was named for Frederick J. Seif. Mr. Seif was
born in Oshkosh, WI, in 1855 and came to Clark County at the age of
24. Newly married he purchased 80 acres in Sherwood Township,
began farming, and spent 8 years at that location. He then moved
to what is now Seif Township and helped organize the township, the
school district, and acquired 280 acres of farmland. The first
meeting of the town was held in April of 1901 and Mr. Seif was the
first town chairman. Fred Seif moved to Neillsville in
1906. In 1908 he started the business, which came to be known as
F. J. Seif & Sons, selling implement and auto supplies. He
also served 2 years as mayor of Neillsville. Fred Seif came from
humble beginnings and prospered through hard work and
perseverance. He died in 1926 and was buried at Neillsville City
Cemetery. |
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On
November 15, 1901 the County Board ordered the creation of the township
of Dewhurst and the township first met in April of 1902. The name
of the town was originally "Mound" but the name was soon changed to
Dewhurst in honor of Richard Dewhurst, first Clark County Judge on
record. Richard Dewhurst was born near Manchester, England in
1826 and came to the U.S. when an infant. His family settled in
Bristol, Massachusetts, then moved to Ohio where Richard studied
law. He taught school early in his career and came to Clark
County in 1856 after being admitted to the bar. He served in the
Civil War for WI. Mr. Dewhurst founded the Neillsville
Bank. He was a lawyer, judge, businessman, and also engaged in
logging operations. |
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The
township of Hendren was organized with its present boundaries in April
of 1911. It was named after Reverend William T. Hendren.
Rev. Hendren came to Neillsville in 1872 prior to serving as
Presbyterian Minister in Minnesota for 6 years. He was largely
instrumental in construction of the Presbyterian Church at Neillsville
and was pastor there for many years. He moved to Greenwood in
about 1901 and was still active there when he died in 1920.
Hendren Township was formerly a part of Eaton Township. The first
community to be settled in Hendren was Tioga. |
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Butler
Township was created by order of the county board on November 11, 1915
with a first town meeting held in April of 1916. Probable
namesakes were the Butler family consisting of brothers; David, Isaac
H., William C., and George Butler who were early settlers to the
township. The Butler family owned land in Sections 10 and 14 as
early as 1893. The Wisconsin born Butler brothers, along with
parents George and Nancy Butler, resided in Buffalo County, WI, in 1880. |
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The
record of Foster's creation is uncertain but it most likely was
organized in the 1920's, being the last township formed in Clark
County. Foster contains two township areas, and much of the land
is a part of the Clark County Forest and Recreation Zone. In
1882, Nathaniel C. Foster of Fairchild built a railroad, the Fairchild
& Northeastern R. R. Co., opening up the area through the
township. The railroad was financed and constructed without any
public aid or grants, through the energy of Mr. Foster. It's
believed the town was named for him. N. C. Foster originated from
Tioga County, New York, being born there in 1834. In 1891 he was
known as the largest lumber manufacturer and dealer in West Central
Wisconsin, owning about 15,000 acres of good timber in Eau Claire and
Clark Counties. The timber supplied the large mills he owned at
Fairchild, WI, which were established in 1877. Nathaniel C.
Foster died in 1923. |
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SOURCES: Clark County Fair Centennial booklet, 1972; Clark County Fair Board & Centennial Committee Early History of Clark County by R. J. MacBride, 1853 - 1900 History of Clark County, Franklyn Curtiss - Wedge Compiler; H C. Cooper Jr. Publisher; 1918 The Neillsville Press (WI Historical Society - microfilm) Historical & Biographical Album of Chippewa Valley, WI - A. Warner, Publisher; Chicago; 1891-1892 Dictionary of American Biography, Volume II, NY |
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