|
Whittlesey, Wisconsin
Whittlesey is a census-designated place in the town of Chelsea, Taylor County, Wisconsin, United States. Its population was 105 as of the 2010 census.[1] The community of Whittlesey was started in the 1870s when the Wisconsin Central Railroad Company built its line up through the forests, heading for Ashland. The railroad placed a station seven miles north of Medford where the line touched the Little Black River. It named the station Whittlesey, probably for Asaph Whittlesey, an early state legislator from Ashland,[3] or possibly for geologist Charles Whittlesey who surveyed the area.[4] Several sawmills operated in Whittlesey starting in the 1880s. One built a 240-foot dam across the river, producing a 12-foot head of water.[5] Another sawmill operated a mile and a half west of town, hauling its sawn product on carts over a pole line (a track of hardwood poles) to ship from the station at Whittlesey.[6] A brickyard also operated there.[5] A Village of Whittlesey was platted in 1892, initiated by G.W. and Emma Norton.[7] A 1913 map shows a "depot", post office, and blacksmith shop facing the railroad, with the school on the southeast side of town.[8] But as the timber was exhausted, the nearby sawmills closed and declined. The highway bypassed most of the town to the east. The rail line closed in 1988.[9] As of 2023 Whittlesey is a quiet cluster of homes scattered among the trees a short drive north of Medford, with the Pine Line bike trail passing through on the old railroad right-of-way.[10] References
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
