George Hiles (October 3, 1825 – March 8, 1896) was a businessman, land speculator, and politician. Hiles was born in

Farmington, Michigan Farmington is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a northern suburb of Metro Detroit. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the population was 10,372. It is surrounded by Farmington ...

. He moved to

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 ...

in 1844 settling in

Baraboo Baraboo is a city in the Midwest and the county seat of Sauk County, Wisconsin, United States. The largest city in the county, Baraboo is the principal city of the Baraboo Micropolitan Statistical Area. Its 2020 population was 12,556. It is situ ...

where he operated a sawmill. In 1850, he moved to Wood County, where he helped found the sawmill town Dexterville, invested in the mills of Pittsville, and owned a mineral water spring in

Arcadia Arcadia may refer to: Places Australia * Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Arcadia, Queensland * Arcadia, Victoria Greece * Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese * Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...

. He represented

Marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

and

Wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin th ...

counties in the

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Representatives are elected for two-year terms, ...

as a Democrat in 1867. He was defeated by

George R. Gardner George Ransom Gardner (January 19, 1837 – December 20, 1897) was an American politician and lawyer. Born in Horseheads, New York, the son of George Ellison and Mary Ann (Monroe) Gardner, George moved to Wisconsin in 1856, taught school, and ...

for the seat in 1883. In the 1870s and 1880s he became involved in railroads. He built a major portion of the Green Bay, Winona and St. Paul Railroad, and constructed the Milwaukee, Dexterville, and Northern Railroad which was later acquired by the

Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), often referred to as the "Milwaukee Road" , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwest and Northwest of the United States from 1847 until 1986. The company experience ...

. Hiles moved to

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

in 1886. He died in 1896 and is buried in Dexterville Cemetery in Dexterville. The

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

and

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

of Hiles were named in his honor in 1901.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hiles, George 1825 births 1896 deaths Members of the Wisconsin State Assembly People from Arcadia, Wisconsin People from Farmington, Michigan People from Wood County, Wisconsin People from Baraboo, Wisconsin 19th-century American legislators 19th-century Wisconsin politicians