IRON COUNTY

WISCONSIN

A WIGenWeb Project

Cities, Towns & Villages

WISCONSIN MUNICIPALITIES: Cities Towns, and Villages, often referred to as 'municipalities' in Wisconsin law, are the governmental units that relate most directly to citizens' everyday lives.

TOWNS, like counties, were created by the state to provide basic municipal services. Rooted in New England and New York tradition, town government came to Wisconsin with the settlers, but Wisconsin towns were not like their Eastern counterparts that reflected the existing patterns of local settlement. In Wisconsin, towns are geographical subdivisions of counties. Towns originally served (and for the most part they continue to serve) rural areas. Towns govern those areas of Wisconsin not included in the corporate boundaries of cities and villages.

The difference between "township" and "town" often confuses the public. In Wisconsin, "township' refers to the surveyor's township which was laid out to identify land parcels within a county. Theoretically. a township is a square tract of land, measuring six miles on a side for a total of 36 square miles in the unit. Each township is divided into 36 sections. "Town", as the word is used in Wisconsin, denotes a specific unit of government. It's boundaries may coincide with the surveyor's township or it may look quite different. A Town may include one township, parts of townships or several townships.

CITIES and VILLAGES, often referred to as "incorportated areas", govern territory where population is more concentrated. In general, minimum population for incorporation as a village is 150 residents for an isolated village and 2,500 for a metropolitan village located in a more densely settled area. For cities, the minimums are 1,000 and 5,000 respectively. As cities and villages are incorporated, they are carved out of the town territory and become independent units no longer subject to the town's control. The remainder of the town may take on a 'Swiss cheese" configuration as its area is reduced.

[Information above taken from "State of Wisconsin Blue Book 1997-1998"]

SMALL SETTLEMENTS & GHOST TOWNS: There were many small settlements that sprung up around logging camps of the early 1900's and were not much more than a grocery store, post office, railroad stations or rail junction. Some of these develped into larger communities, others have dissappeared along with the lumber camps and the railroads.

* Information on community post offices was taken from "Hale, James B. Wisconsin Post Office Handbook. Bulletin No. 20. Madison, Wisconsin: Wisconsin Postal History Society, 1988." Post offices with a beginning date followed by a " +" were still in existance at the time the book was written. Some post offices may have ceased operation after 1988.

**Information on railroad stations, junctions and railroad lines taken from a map of Railroads in the Northwoods. The dates are for the railroad lines only, the stations may or may not have been operating during that entire time frame.

Municipality	Govt. Office/Address	Post Office and * Train Stations & Jcts
IRON COUNTY	IRON COUNTY BOARD/ Courthouse 300 Taconite St. Suite 101 Hurley, WI 54534	.
Anderson, Town of	Town Clerk Marion Koski 10827N Hoyt Ave Upson, WI 54565	.
ARBOMA	.	Post Office1921-1923
CAMP ROOSEVELT	.	Post Office 1929-1932
Town of Carey (was Montreal)	Town Clerk Michael Barker 5046W County Rd. C Hurley, WI 54534
Cedar	see Town of Gurney	Post Office 1891-1955
CURRY	.	Post Office 1890-1903
DE FER	.	Post Office 1912-1929
EMERSON	.	Post Office1906-1920
FLOOD CREEK	.	Post Office 1921-1927
GILE	see Town of Carey	Post Office 1889+
Gurney, Town of	Town Clerk Denys Vargovich 10610W Old Hwy 10 Road Saxon, WI 54559	Post Office 1900-1903, 1906+
HINKLE	.	Post Office 1901-1908, 1913-1916
HURLEY, CITY OF	City of Hurley 405 5th Ave N Hurley, WI 54534 phone: 561-4715	Post Office 1884+
IRON BELT	See Town of Knight	Post Office 1888+
KIMBALL (was Vaughn)	Town Clerk Irene Salzmann 7744W W North Drive Saxon, WI 54559	Post Office 1889-1942
Town of Knight	Town Clerk Christine Thompson PO Box 40 Iron Belt, WI 54536
Manitowish	see Town of Mercer	Post Office 1890-1968
Mercer, Town of	Town of Mercer PO Box 149 Mercer, WI 54547	Post Office 1895+
Montreal, City of	City of Montreal 53 Wisconsin Ave Montreal, WI 54550	Post Office 1901+
MOORE	.	est. Plummer 1888-cgd Moore 1910-1925
Oma, Town of	Town Clerk Denise Schmitz-Enking 11336N Center Drive Hurley, WI 54534
Pence, Town of (was Clement)	Town Clerk Paula Manzanares 12161N Hemlock St Pence, WI 54550	Post Office 1888-1986
PLUMMER	.	est 1888-cgd Moore 1910-1925
PLUTCHAK	.	Post Office 1923-1934
POWELL	.	Post Office 1908-1942
SANDROCK	.	Post Office 1904-1913
Saxon, Town of (was Siding Four and Dogwood)	Town Clerk Mark Beaupre PO Box 116 Saxon, WI 54559	Post Office 1887+
Sherman, Town of	Town Clerk Louise Clementi 1590N Double EE Rd. Springstead, WI 54552
Springstead	see Town of Sherman--	Post Office 1920-1923
SPIDER LAKE	.	(Vilas,Iron) Post Office 1904 mvd Iron Co. 1908-?
UPSON	see Town of Anderson	Post Office 1877-1977
VAN BUSKIRK	.	Post Office 1890-1895, 1903-1933
.	.	.

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Page updated -- Monday, 07-May-2018 17:35:45 CDT