Hamilton is an unincorporated community 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, United States. Much of the community is part of the Hamilton Historic District, a site listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The NRHP-listed

Concordia Mill The Concordia Mill is a former gristmill on Cedar Creek located in Hamilton, Wisconsin, United States. The limestone mill was built in 1853 by Edward H. Janssen and his brother, Theodore, along with a Mr. Gaitsch with locally quarried limestone. ...

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 William Stephen Hamilton (August 4, 1797October 9, 1850), a son of Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, was an American politician and miner who lived much of his life in the U.S. state of Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory. Ham ...

, a member of the legislature of the Wisconsin Territory 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 N ...

, 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