Cato is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

located in the town of Cato,

Manitowoc County Manitowoc County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 81,359. Its county seat is Manitowoc. The county was created in 1836 prior to Wisconsin's statehood and organized in 1848. Manitowoc County ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, United States. Cato is located on

U.S. Route 10 U.S. Route 10 or U.S. Highway 10 (US 10) is an east–west United States highway located in the Midwest and Great Lakes regions of the United States. Unlike most U.S. routes with "0" as the last digit of its route number, US 10 ...

west of Whitelaw. U.S. Route 10 also forced the razing of much of downtown Cato.

History

Cato was originally known as Nettle Hills due to the abundant itchy weed before being renamed after a settler's hometown, Cato, New York. As a station along a train line from Manitowoc to Forest Junction, Cato averaged 8 trains a day. A school existed from the 1900s to 1930s and a Presbyterian church from then to the 1960s. The post office lasted for 128 years. In 1992, a project to improve U.S. 10 required the purchase of the townsite and much of the downtown buildings to be razed, thus resulting in historical buildings coming down.

References

Unincorporated communities in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin Unincorporated communities in Wisconsin {{ManitowocCountyWI-geo-stub