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The Township of Withee was originally a part of the township of Hixon,
which was organized by an act of the Wisconsin legislature in 1873.In
1880, the township of Withee was formed.
The known first white settler in the area was James Seneca Boardman who came
in 1870. In 1871, D. R. Goodwin and George Richards moved into the present town
of Withee. In 1872, James Boardman built a shanty in the southeast quarter of
section 30. This area later grew to become the village of Thorp. In 1880, the
Wisconsin and Minnesota Railroad (formerly the Wisconsin Central) began
construction. At this time, there were three homes in the village of Thorp. A
center of logging operations was the sawmill at Sterling, situated on the
railroad about 4 miles east of the present city of Thorp. At Lombard, about a
mile west of Sterling, there was a railroad siding, and a small community was
located there at one time.
In the late 1880s, when the big scale logging operations were drawing to a
close around the saw mill located at Sterling (four miles east of the present
city of Thorp), the Polish land agents Felix I. Piotrowicz and E. I. Slupecki from Milwaukee,
began selling 40-acre plots of land in the area to Polish and Lithuanian immigrants. Originally
they were to create a settlement called Poznan (Posen) near Sterling. In
order to entice immigrants to settle, they donated land for and assisted in
building the original St. Hedwig's church. However, the settlers later decided on a site
for the church
two miles west of the proposed village of Poznan. Because of this influx of
Polish and Lithuanian settlers in the late 1800s, the township of Withee was, at one time,
occupied predominantly by people of Polish and Lithuanian descent. To this day
there is a strong sense of Polish culture in the area.
Communities in Withee Township:
Cemeteries
Maps
Way Back When
- Can you put names to the bathing beauties in
this photo, and an approximate
date? If so, email me. Way
Back When photo from Thorp Courier, June 14, 2006
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