Ghost Towns of Wisconsin

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Elevation:
Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
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Aurora, WI

County: Taylor
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude: 45°10’39 N 90°51’15 W
Elevation: 1,211 ft (369 m)
Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
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Comments: Aurora is a town in Taylor County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 386 at the 2000 census. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 34.2 square miles (88.6 km²), all of it land.
Remains: This Township contains a few swamps some of considerable extent they are all unfit for cultivation. The River Enters the Town Near the NE Corner of section 24 and flows in a WSWesterly course with a Gentle current except a few Riffles where the current becomes Rapid. The soil is principally 2d rate.
Current Status: This Township is covered with timber The greater portion of which is Hemlock Y Birch Elm and Sugar. A number of small streams rise in this Township and flow in a SWesterly course toward its west boundary. The swamp except Alder are covered with moss( ). There is no improvements on this Township.
Remarks: In mid-summer of 1847 a crew working for the U.S. government surveyed a six-mile (10 km) square which approximates the current boundaries of Aurora. Then in December 1854 another crew marked all the section corners in the township, walking through the woods and swamps, measuring with chain and compass.

Belmont, WI

Coolidge, WI

County: Price
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude: 45°48′42″N 90°24′29″W / 45.81167°N 90.40806°W / 45.81167
Elevation: 1,503 ft (458 m)
Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments: Coolidge is a ghost town in Price County, Wisconsin, United States. Coolidge was located in the town of Fifield near Coolidge Lake, 8 miles (13 km) north of Phillips. The town was marked on USGS maps as late as 1941 and is still marked on Wisconsin Department of Transportation maps.
Remains: Coolidge was one of the first settlements in the Town of Fifield along the Wisconsin Central Railroad. The town was set up as a flag station for the railway in November 1886. It consisted of two stores, a boarding house, post office and a saw and planing mill. The latter was built by W. H. Coolidge in 1884.
Current Status: According to Fifield: A History, by Douglas Severt, all that is left of Coolidge today is a pile of stone in the clearing that was once the company’s vault. Near this same stone pile stands a huge spreading lilac bush that blossom every spring, as if in memorial to the past. William Ehmke was born at Coolidge and later became section boss on the Wisconsin Central as was his father before him.
Remarks: When Boyington and Atwell of Stevens Point built their sawmill at the sight known as Fifield, Coolidge had a population of 500. The mill operated until 1891 and had a pine cut of over 80,000,000 board feet.

Delhi, WI

County: Winnebago
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude: 44°01’22 N 88°48’8 W
Elevation: 751 ft (229 m)
Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
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Comments: Delhi, Wisconsin is a ghost town in the town of Rushford, Winnebago County, Wisconsin, United States. It is located on County Highway E between Omro and Eureka at the junction of the Fox River and Waukau Creek. Delhi was also known as La Borde’s Landing.
Remains: Delhi was founded by Luke La Borde, a French Canadian trader. La Borde patented the site of 145 acres on March 1, 1848. The site was expanded after the sale of initial lots. A land survey was made on July 17, 1849. The lots were uniform in measurement, 66 feet wide by 132 feet deep. The main street of Broadway measured 82 1/2 feet wide. All other streets were 66 feet wide. Water, Union, Washington, Liberty, Grand, Ann, Broad, Harrison, Howard, Pearl, Main, and Menominee streets are listed in a Winnebago County platbook dated 1889.
Current Status: 1980 census records identify Delhi as Island Park. Delhi had an established post office between 1850-1893.
Remarks: Delhi was slowly abandoned and then deteriorated. It had considered itself to be a strong contender for county seat over Omro and Eureka. Trade shifted to Omro and Eureka when those villages built better bridges than Delhi could afford. The railroad came to Omro causing further diversion of trade. Delhi’s residents moved to the neighboring villages and beyond. Today, only one deteriorated house stands from that era. Luke La Borde and his wife, Louisa, are buried on the property.

Dell Prairie, WI

County: Adams
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude: 43°40′02″N 89°42′55″W / 43.66722°N 89.71528°W / 43.66722
Elevation: 988 ft (301 m)
Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
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Comments: Dell Prairie is a town in Adams County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 1,590 at the 2010 census.
Remains: The unincorporated community of Plainville is located in the town.
Current Status: The ghost town of Dell Prairie was also located in the town.
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Donaldson, WI

Dover, WI

Grand Chute, WI

County: Outagamie
Zip Code: 54913
Latitude / Longitude: 44°15′16.71″N 88°24′55.47″W / 44.2546417°N 88.4154083°W / 44.2546417
Elevation: 791 feet (241m)
Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
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Comments: Grand Chute (French: great fall or “large rapids”) is a town in Outagamie County, Wisconsin, United States. The unincorporated community of Apple Creek is partially located in the town and the ghost towns of Grand Chute and Lawesburg are located in the town. With a population of 20,919, Grand Chute was the largest town by population in the state of Wisconsin as of the 2010 census. It was the birthplace of U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy.
Remains: The Town of Grand Chute was formed on April 3, 1849 inside what was then Brown County, Wisconsin. By state legislative act, Grand Chute was split off of the Town of Kaukalin (later Kaukauna). The Town of Grand Chute’s boundary at its establishment comprised a much larger area than it has today, formed by what today are the towns of Dale, Hortonia, Greenville, Ellington, and present-day Grand Chute. By 1850, due to a large influx of new settlers, the towns of Hortonia (which included Dale at the time), Greenville, and Ellington had all been split away from Grand Chute to form new towns.
Current Status: Grand Chute’s population in 1984 was estimated to be 10,874. In March of that year, residents overwhelmingly approved using town funds to attempt incorporation into a village. After town hearings in late 1984, Grand Chute petitioned to the State of Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Department of Development denied the town’s request to incorporate on March 25, 1985. At the time of the denial, the DOD’s findings were that some (but not necessarily all) government services would be better provided by the City of Appleton, and that the proposed village was not compact nor homogenous.
Remarks: Outagamie County was set up by law in February 1851 and had its county government formally organized on April 1, 1851. At that time, the Town of Grand Chute (which by definition changed from Brown to Outagamie County) was established as the seat of county government affairs.

Harrison, WI

County: Calumet
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude: 44°08’03 N 88°17’30 W
Elevation: 988 ft (301 m)
Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established: 1870s
Disestablished:
Comments: Harrison is a former community in the town of Harrison, Calumet County, Wisconsin, United States.
Remains: Harrison was settled in the 1870s around a Catholic church and school between Stockbridge and Sherwood.
Current Status: The church’s first priest was Rev. John Adt. The original community has been a ghost town since before the 1970s and the only remnant of that community is the church’s cemetery.
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Helena, WI

County: Iowa
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Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
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Henrietta, WI

County: Richland
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude: 43°30′30″N 90°23′43″W / 43.50833°N 90.39528°W / 43.50833
Elevation: 912 ft (278 m)
Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
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Comments: Henrietta is a town in Richland County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 479 at the 2000 census.
Remains: The unincorporated communities of Hub City and Woodstock are located in the town. The ghost town of Henrietta was also located in the town.
Current Status:
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Kaiser, WI

County: Price
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude: 45°54′35″N 90°33′06″W / 45.90972°N 90.55167°W / 45.90972
Elevation: 1,499 ft (457 m)
Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
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Comments: Kaiser is a ghost town in Price County, Wisconsin, United States. Kaiser was located in the town of Lake along the current route of the Tuscobia State Trail, 5 miles (8.0 km) west-southwest of Park Falls. The town was marked on USGS maps as late as 1941.
Remains: The village of Kaiser was platted by, and named after Arnold E. Kaiser in 1911. Mr. Kaiser was a logger and civic leader from nearby Park Falls. Farmland near the area of Kaiser had been settled as early as 1881. John Stehwein homesteaded 160 acres of land along County Road E, an area which became known as “Kaiser’s Corner”. C.M. Gardner, another early settler, was the namesake of nearby Gardner Lake.
Current Status: A number of homes, a post office, school, and general store were all built in the vicinity of the sawmill and the “Kaiser’s Corner” spot. This was the real Kaiser community, and not the streets and lots that were laid out by Mr. Kaiser. The big plans of Mr. Kaiser, of a large populated community, remained a dream that never materialized.
Remarks: Walter Loomer built a small country store in October 1901. The store, a Post Office, and a one-room school were already open when the plat for the village was laid out.

Kennedy, WI

County: Price
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude: 45°54′37″N 90°39′27″W / 45.91028°N 90.65750°W / 45.91028
Elevation: 1,473 ft (449 m)
Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments: Kennedy is an unincorporated community located in the town of Lake, Price County, Wisconsin, United States. Once a busy sawmill community during the logging boom, Kennedy is now a ghost town.
Remains: The village of Kennedy was platted in 1908, in an area near the Price-Sawyer County border, adjacent to the Omaha Railway tracks. It may have been named after Pat Kennedy, a Fifield pioneer who kept a tavern in the new village.
Current Status: Edith Bricco, Laura Perry, and Edith Rozell followed Stanley Berg as Postmasters until 1938, when the post office was discontinued. The school was closed in 1939 and the village of Kennedy was all but abandoned. All but four of the buildings in the village were taken down, burned, or decayed until they collapsed. The railroad tracks were removed in 1964.
Remarks: The land where Kennedy was located was originally owned by Cornell University, who had been given the property through a University Land Grant. Cornell sold the property to the Sage Land Company, which owned much property in nearby Park Falls. The Sage Company later sold the land to Williard Walther of the Dells Lumber and Pulp Company, for $600. The Dells Lumber and Puld Company was involved in paper making and was based in Eau Claire. The company built a headquarters and office west of Kennedy. Spur lines were built from Kennedy to seven logging camps to the north, near the Ashland County border. In 1908, Willard Walther developed the plat for the new community.

Lawesburg, WI

County: Outagamie
Zip Code: 54915
Latitude / Longitude: 44°15′31.02″N 88°23′00.47″W / 44.2586167°N 88.3834639°W / 44.2586167
Elevation: 748 feet (228m)
Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments: Lawesburg was an unincorporated village in Outagamie County, Wisconsin, United States. Located in the town of Grand Chute, the site was incorporated into the Village of Appleton in 1853 and is now part of the city of Appleton.
Remains: The surviving buildings from Lawesburg are protected and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Current Status: George W. Lawe founded the village of Lawesburg in 1849. It was one of three villages that developed around the Lawrence Institute: the village of Grand Chute, the village of Appleton, and the village of Lawesburg, all nestled along the Fox River. The villages of Grand Chute and Lawesburg have since been incorporated into the city of Appleton.
Remarks:

Little Wolf, WI

County: Waupaca
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude: 44°26′52″N 88°54′44″W / 44.44778°N 88.91222°W / 44.44778
Elevation: 804 ft (245 m)
Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
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Comments: Little Wolf is a town in Waupaca County, Wisconsin, United States. The ghost town of Little Wolf was located in the town.
Remains: The town was first settled by William Goldberg in 1848, who was joined by George E. and J.P. More in 1849, and James and Peter Meiklejohn in 1850. The first settlements straddled the river on the southern border of the township. The town was at first known as Centerville, and was organized on March 5, 1852. On November 15, 1854 the town changed its name to Little Wolf. After Jack Brickley built the first bridge across the river in 1858, it was also known as Brickley Bridge, but the name Little Wolf stuck after A.P. Jones established a new town post office in January 1859.
Current Status: Little Wolf never grew much bigger, though, and probably began to decline in the 1870s, after another lumbermill was built upriver in 1871, and the railroad was routed through Manawa in 1873. Up until recently, the hotel and the foundations of the grist mill were all that remained to show that the village ever existed. Today, even the hotel is gone.
Remarks: The Town of Royalton separated from Little Wolf in 1853. The towns Town of Union was separated from Little Wolf in 1857, with the Town of Dupont separating from the Town of Union in 1864.

Manson, WI

County: Oneida
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude: 45°34′00″N 89°39′41″W / 45.56667°N 89.66139°W / 45.56667
Elevation: 1,519 ft (463 m)
Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
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Comments: Manson is a ghost town in Oneida County, Wisconsin, United States.
Remains: Manson was located in the town of Woodboro along what is now County Highway N and the Canadian National Railway, 3 miles (4.8 km) northeast of Heafford Junction.
Current Status: The town was marked on USGS maps as late as 1939.
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New Chester, WI

County: Adams
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude: 43°51′42″N 89°38′15″W / 43.86167°N 89.63750°W / 43.86167
Elevation: 1,024 ft (312 m)
Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments: The population was 2,254 at the 2010 census, up from 864 at the 2000 census. New Chester is a town in Adams County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin.
Remains: The unincorporated communities of Brooks and Grand Marsh are located in the town.
Current Status: The ghost town of New Chester is also located in the town.
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Muskego Settlement, WI

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Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
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Comments: The Muskego Settlement was one of the first Norwegian-American settlements in the United States.
Remains: Situated near today’s Muskego, Wisconsin, the Muskego Settlement covered areas within what is now the town of Norway in Racine County, Wisconsin.
Current Status: The State of Wisconsin erected a Historic Marker during 1963 to commemorate the Muskego Settlement. It is located at the entrance to Norway Evangelical Lutheran Church, across from Heg Park, on Wisconsin Highway 36 in Wind Lake, Wisconsin. The inscription of the plaque acknowledges the leadership of John Luraas, Even Hansen Heg, Johannes Johannsen, Søren Bache, Elling Eielsen, Claus Lauritz Clausen and James DeNoon Reymert.
Remarks: John Nielsen Luraas (1813–1890) first led the colony which was founded in 1839, primarily by immigrants from the Norwegian county of Telemark. They had been encouraged to seek their fortunes in Wisconsin by the pioneer Nattestad brothers. Ansten and Ole Knudsen Nattestad had immigrated during 1838 from Veggli in Numedal, Norway, to establish the first Norwegian-American immigrant community in Wisconsin at Jefferson Prairie Settlement of Rock County.

Nya Upsala, WI

County:
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude: 43° 7′ 1.2 N, 88° 23′ 2.4 W
Elevation:
Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
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Comments: New Upsala (Swedish: Nya Uppsala) also referred to as the Pine Lake Settlement, was an early pioneer Swedish-American community in Wisconsin. The short-lived settlement of Swedish immigrants was founded by Gustaf Unonius.
Remains: It was located in the north central section of Waukesha County, Wisconsin, near the town of Merton, outside Delafield, in the area now incorporated as the villages of Chenequa and Nashotah.
Current Status: Gustaf Unonius, an immigrant from Sweden, had a dream to establish a Swedish cultural and intellectual center on the frontier. He staked a claim on the east shore of Pine Lake (43.117°N 88.384°W), naming it New Upsala after the historic Swedish university city of Uppsala. By 1842, he and several associates had begun building the new settlement called Nya Uppsala. By 1848, several families had relocated to the community and a log cabin had been completed to house the Scandinavian parish at Pine Lake.
Remarks: Shortly thereafter Unonius relocated to Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, where he became an Episcopalian priest. Much of the community subsequently disbanded. He had attracted an assortment of nobles, theologians, merchants, teachers and military officers. The choice of land was not a practical location for a settlement. The lake shore was stony and the soil unproductive. The colony failed almost as soon as it was started.

Pendarvis, WI

Pokerville, WI

Quincey, WI

County:
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude: 43°52′35″N 89°57′22″W / 43.87639°N 89.95611°W / 43.87639
Elevation: 883 ft (269 m)
Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
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Ranney, WI

County: Kenosha
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude: 42°32′20″N 87°52′13″W / 42.53889°N 87.87028°W / 42.53889
Elevation: 696 ft (212 m)
Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established: 1885
Disestablished: 1906
Comments: Ranney (also known as Rogers Siding) is a ghost town in Pleasant Prairie. It is located at the intersection of Bain Station Road and the Canadian Pacific Railroad (originally the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad).
Remains: The last passenger train stopped at the Ranney Station prior to 1862, but the Ranney post office opened in 1885 and lasted into 1906. The Bain Station of the KD Line was located just east of Ranney, and remained into the 1940s.
Current Status: The last house in Ranney, the former KD Line yardmaster’s house, was demolished in 2003, and the area is now devoid of all traces of community except for continuing railroad activity on the KD Line and the Canadian Pacific. Much of the property there is now owned by We Energies.
Remarks: Rogers Siding itself was a KD Line team track just west of Green Bay Road for area farmers who would load their produce for rail shipments; the siding itself was removed in the 1980s.

Sinipee, WI

Staadts, WI

County: Marathon
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude: 44°46′45″N 90°07′12″W / 44.77917°N 90.12000°W / 44.77917
Elevation: 1,319 ft (402 m)
Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
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Comments: Staadts is a ghost town, in the town of Eau Pleine, Marathon County, Wisconsin, United States. Staadts was 2.5 miles (4.0 km) southwest of Stratford.
Remains:
Current Status: The town was marked on USGS maps as late as 1953.
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Stettin, WI

County: Marathon
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude: 44°58′23″N 89°48′27″W / 44.97306°N 89.80750°W / 44.97306
Elevation: 1,352 ft (412 m)
Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments: Stettin is a town in Marathon County, Wisconsin, United States. It is part of the Wausau, Wisconsin Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,554 at the 2010 census.
Remains: The unincorporated community of Mount View is located partially in the town.
Current Status: The ghost town of Stettin was also located in the town.
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Ulao, WI

County: Ozaukee
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude: 43°19’14 N 87°54’59 W
Elevation: 689 ft (210 m)
Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established: 1850
Disestablished: 1864
Comments: Ulao, Wisconsin (/ju ‘le o / yoo-LAY-oh) is an unincorporated community in the Town of Grafton in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin. It is located at the intersection of Ulao Road and the old Chicago and Northwestern railroad running from Milwaukee to Green Bay.
Remains: Today, I-43 runs a few hundred feet to the west of the town. Ulao Creek runs through the community.
Current Status: Just to the east of Ulao, on the shore of Lake Michigan, was the hamlet of Port Ulao, which was founded in 1847 by James T. Gifford, an investor from Elgin, Illinois. Gifford began a business of selling wood to steamships heading down the lake, and built a 1000-foot wooden pier into the lake for ships to dock. He then constructed a chute down the side of a steep bluff to transport logs that farmers in the area produced while clearing land.
Remarks: Ulao contained a post office from 1850 until 1864. The origin of the name Ulao is obscure; some say it was named for a Native American chieftain, while others believe it is a corruption of a French name.

Valley, WI

County: Vernon
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude: 43°38′30″N 90°32′30″W / 43.64167°N 90.54167°W / 43.64167
Elevation: 886 ft (270 m)
Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
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Comments: Valley is an unincorporated community in the town of Forest, Vernon County, Wisconsin, United States.
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Worden, WI

County: Clark
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude: 44°53′12″N 90°52′55″W / 44.88667°N 90.88194°W / 44.88667
Elevation: 1,060 ft (323 m)
Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established:
Disestablished:
Comments: Worden is a town in Clark County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 657 at the 2000 census.
Remains: The ghost town of Worden was located in the town.
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Apostle Islands, WI