Farmington, Washington County, Wisconsin
Farmington, Wisconsin | ||
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FIPS code 55-25375[2] | | |
GNIS feature ID | 1583193[1] | |
Website | town |
Farmington is a town in Washington County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 3,239 at the 2000 census. The unincorporated communities of Boltonville, Cheeseville, Fillmore, and Orchard Grove are located in the town. The unincorporated community of Saint Michaels is also located partially in the town.
Geography
Farmington is located in the Kettle Moraine region of Wisconsin, home to unique geographical features formed by the Laurentide Ice Sheet, a massive glacier that covered much of Canada and the northern United States during the prehistoric Wisconsin glaciation. The town contains many kames, eskers, drumlins, kettles, rivers, and streams created by the glacier.
The north branch of the Milwaukee River flows through the town, as do Stony Creek and Wallace Creek. The town's lakes, including Ehne Lake, Erler Lake, Green Lake, Lake Twelve, and Miller Lake, were are kettle lakes, created by the glaciers.[3]
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 36.7 square miles (95.0 km2), of which, 36.4 square miles (94.2 km2) of it is land and 0.3 square miles (0.8 km2) of it (0.82%) is water.
History
The Farmington area's earliest known inhabitants were pre-Columbian
In the early 19th century, Farmington was home to Potawatomi and Menominee Native Americans. The Menominee surrendered their claims to the land to the United States Federal Government in 1831 through the Treaty of Washington.[8] The Potawatomi surrendered the land the United States Federal Government in 1833 through the 1833 Treaty of Chicago, which (after being ratified in 1835) required them to leave Wisconsin by 1838.[9][10] While many Native people moved west of the Mississippi River to Kansas, some chose to remain, and were referred to as "strolling Potawatomi" in contemporary documents because many of them were migrants who subsisted by squatting on their ancestral lands, which were now owned by white settlers. Eventually the Native Americans who evaded forced removal gathered in northern Wisconsin, where they formed the Forest County Potawatomi Community.[11]
Farmington was part of the Town of West Bend until February 11, 1847, when the Wisconsin Territorial legislature created the Town of Clarence,[12] which was renamed the Town of Farmington on March 11, 1848.[3] The early settlers were predominantly German and Irish immigrants.[12]
In the early 1850s, a group of immigrants from Saxony established Fillmore in the eastern part of the town. They named the settlement for Millard Fillmore, who was president at the time.[12] Fillmore is the location of the 1855 Saxonia House brewery, which was a gathering place for locals.[13] In 1862, some of the Saxon immigrants organized the Farmington Turnverein, a German cultural association, and in 1868, they built the Fillmore Turner Hall, which still stands as of 2020.[14]
In 1854, Harlow Bolton established the Boltonville settlement on Stony Creek in the northeastern part of the town. The early settlers used the creek to power grist and saw mills. There was also a cheese factory, as well as shops, a post office, and a school.[12]
In the 19th and 20th centuries, dairy farming was widespread in Farmington, leading to the construction of numerous cheese factories, including an 1871 factory in
Farmington saw significant population growth in the final decades of the 20th century and the first decades of the 21st century. The economy is still primarily agricultural, with roughly 60% of the land devoted to farming.[3]
Historic Places
Farmington is home to four sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places:
- Lizard Mound County Park: A well-preserved cluster of twenty-eight pre-Columbian effigy mounds, including a 250-foot lizard mound, similarly sized panther and bird mounds, and smaller linear and conical mounds.
- Saxonia House: In 1855, immigrants from the Kingdom of Saxony built Saxonia House as an inn and brewery in Fillmore. Constructed with a traditionally German half-timbered-under-stucco technique, the building also contains an 1860 brewery cave with a vaulted brick ceiling for lagering and storing beer.[16][17][18]
- St. John of God Roman Catholic Church, Convent, and School: The church was built near Boltonville in 1891 and served a predominately Irish congregation. The site includes a cemetery and the nearby ruins of an 1868 convent and school of the Sisters of St. Agnes.[19]
- St. Peter's Church: German Catholic farmers constructed St. Peter's Church from fieldstone in 1861 and also built a nearby school in 1874.[20]
Demographics
As of the
There were 1,116 households, out of which 38.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 77.8% were married couples living together, 3.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 15.3% were non-families. 11.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 3.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.90 and the average family size was 3.14.
In the town, the population was spread out, with 27.4% under the age of 18, 6.4% from 18 to 24, 31.9% from 25 to 44, 25.8% from 45 to 64, and 8.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 104.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 106.6 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $61,667, and the median income for a family was $63,508. Males had a median income of $41,953 versus $25,595 for females. The
Parks
- Leonard J. Yahr County Park: Once the site of a sawmill and match factory, the park now contains hiking trails and a public beach on the shore of Erler Lake.[21]
- Lizard Mound County Park: The park contains self guided walking trail through a collection of twenty-eight earthen mounds in animal and geometric shapes built between 1,000–1,500 years ago by Native Americans.
References
- ^ a b "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. October 25, 2007. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
- ^ a b "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
- ^ a b c "Encyclopedia of Milwaukee: Town of Farmington". University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
- NRHPInventory-Nomination Form. National Park Service. Retrieved December 22, 2016.
- ^ "Lizard Mound County Park (Hagner Group)". wisconsinmounds.com (archive of images of placards in the park). Retrieved January 12, 2020.
- NRHPInventory-Nomination Form. National Park Service. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
- ^ Quickert, Carl (1912). Washington County, Wisconsin: Past and Present. Chicago, IL: S. J. Clarke Publishing Company. pp. 13–15.
- ^ Quickert, Carl (1912). Washington County, Wisconsin: Past and Present. Chicago, IL: S. J. Clarke Publishing Company. p. 16.
- ^ "Early history of Ozaukee County, Wisconsin". University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
- JSTOR 40190019.
- ^ "Potawatomi History". Milwaukee Public Museum. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
- ^ a b c d "History of Farmington". Town of Farmington. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
- ^ "Saxonia House". Historical Marker Database. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
- ^ "Fillmore Turner Hall". Fillmore Turner Hall. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
- ^ "Historic Sites". Town of Farmington. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
- ^ "Saxonia House (Saxonia Inn)". Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved December 26, 2016.
- ^ "Saxonia House Beer Storage Cave (Farmington Brewery)". Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved December 26, 2016.
- NRHPInventory-Nomination Form. National Park Service. Retrieved December 26, 2016.
- NRHPInventory-Nomination Form. National Park Service. Retrieved December 22, 2016.
- ^ "St. Peter's Church (Catholic)". Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved December 22, 2016.
- ^ "Leonard J. Yahr County Park". Washington County, WI. Retrieved January 12, 2020.