Hamilton 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 Cedarburg,

Ozaukee County Ozaukee County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 91,503. Its county seat is Port Washington, making it one of three Wisconsin counties on Lake Michigan not to have a county seat with the same ...

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. Much of the community is part of the Hamilton Historic District, a site listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. The NRHP-listed Concordia Mill is also located in the community.

History

Hamilton was settled by Irish immigrants in the early 1840s. It was originally named "New Dublin" and was the first white settlement in the Cedarburg area. The first documented resident was Joseph Gardenier, who built a log shanty on Cedar Creek as his headquarters for surveying for the construction of the Green Bay Road. It was renamed in 1847 after William S. Hamilton, a member of the legislature of the

Wisconsin Territory The Territory of Wisconsin was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 3, 1836, until May 29, 1848, when an eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Wisconsin. Belmont was ...

and son of

Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first United States secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795. Born out of wedlock in Charlest ...

, the first U.S. Secretary of Treasury. In 1848, Hamilton became the first stop on the stagecoach route between Milwaukee and Green Bay. The community prospered until the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway was built in nearby Cedarburg in 1870. Cedarburg grew into an incorporated city, overshadowing rural Hamilton. In 1974, Hamilton was designated a historic site by the

Wisconsin State Historical Society The Wisconsin Historical Society (officially the State Historical Society of Wisconsin) is simultaneously a state agency and a private membership organization whose purpose is to maintain, promote and spread knowledge relating to the history of ...

, and the Hamilton Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

References

Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin Geography of Ozaukee County, Wisconsin National Register of Historic Places in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin Unincorporated communities in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin Unincorporated communities in Wisconsin {{Wisconsin-NRHP-stub