Dale is an
unincorporated census-designated place
A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...
in the
town of Dale in
Outagamie County
Outagamie County is a county in the northeast region of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 190,705. Its county seat is Appleton.
Outagamie County is included in the Appleton, WI Metropolitan Statistical Are ...
,
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. It is located at the intersection of
Wisconsin Highway 96
State Trunk Highway 96 (often called Highway 96, STH-96 or WIS 96) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It runs east–west in east-central Wisconsin from near Fremont, Waupaca County, Wisconsin, Fremont to Denmark, Wisconsin, Denmar ...
and County T. As of the
2010 census, its population was 528.
History
Settlers who would plat the land comprising the community of Dale arrived between 1851 and 1853, and approximately twenty families arrived between the fall of 1853 and June 1854, establishing a solid population. Dale was founded and platted along the proposed
Manitowoc and Mississippi Railroad Manitowoc may refer to:
* Manitowoc, Wisconsin, county seat of Manitowoc County
* Manitowoc County, Wisconsin
* Manitowoc (town), Wisconsin a town mostly annexed by the city of Manitowoc
* Manitowoc River, a river in Wisconsin
* Manitowoc Rapids, ...
line, which consolidated with the
Wisconsin Central Railroad in 1871. Rail construction on the right of way by the Wisconsin Central reached Dale in 1872.
Early in its history, the community was called Poker Flat
in addition to Dale, for what a 1923 newspaper article terms "an unknown reason".
20th century
Dale was on the original path of the transcontinental
Yellowstone Trail auto trail
The system of auto trails was an informal network of marked routes that existed in the United States and Canada in the early part of the 20th century. Marked with colored bands on utility poles, the trails were intended to help travellers in ...
, established in 1915. This highway through Dale was first given the numerical designation
State Trunk Highway 18 in 1917, which in turn was changed to U.S Route 10 in 1926.
Dale had a three-room school run by the New London school district, which housed K-3 education through the late 1960s. The school was closed by fall 1969. Students who did go to Dale School were bussed to nearby
Readfield
Readfield (/ˈɹid fild/) is a town in Kennebec County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,597 at the 2020 census. Readfield is home to the Kents Hill School, a preparatory school, Maranacook Community Schools, public schools for the dis ...
School after the closure, and the property was sold to the Zion United Church of Christ in November 1969.
On September 3, 1974, one of three contractors installing
curb and gutter pulled a gas line apart under Dale's Appleton State Bank, while digging a storm sewer trench with a backhoe. Natural gas leaked into the basement of the bank, and caused an explosion at 12:50 pm. An assistant bank manager who was preparing to re-open the bank for business hours was flung from the building by the force of the blast, and died of head and chest injuries five hours after the blast. Another person in a nearby building suffered two broken legs and a shoulder injury.
The explosion destroyed the bank building and Dale's post office, situated next door to the bank. Postal service was temporarily run out of Dale's town hall, and Appleton State Bank business out of a trailer, until both could have new buildings constructed.
21st century
On December 5, 2003, the primary route through Dale changed designation from U.S. Route 10 to Wisconsin Highway 96, when new divided highway for US 10 between Greenville and Fremont was completed.
References
{{authority control
Census-designated places in Outagamie County, Wisconsin
Census-designated places in Wisconsin
1853 establishments in Wisconsin
Populated places established in 1853