McKinley is a

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 ...

in Taylor 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. The population was 418 at the 2000 census. The census-designated place of

Jump River The Jump River is a small rocky river in north-central Wisconsin. In the late 19th century it was used to drive logs down to the Chippewa River. Today it is recreational, rambling through woods and farmlands, used mostly by fishermen and paddler ...

is located partially in the town.

History

Some of the earliest European Americans to walk the six mile square that would become McKinley were the U.S. government's

surveyors Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

. In 1847 they surveyed the outline of the

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

on foot with

chain A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. A c ...

and compass. Then others came back in 1855 to survey all the section lines. When done, the deputy surveyor filed this general description:

''This Township contains several Swamps and some of considerable extent. They are all unfit for cultivation. The Meadow and Alder Bottoms are all subject to be overflowed to a depth of 1 too 2 feet And are good for
Hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticated ...
. The Surface is level apart is upland where the Soil is 2d rate. This Township is heavily timbered and is chiefly composed of Hemlock,
Yellow Birch ''Betula alleghaniensis'', the yellow birch, golden birch, or swamp birch, is a large tree and an important lumber species of birch native to northeastern North America. Its vernacular names refer to the golden color of the tree's bark. In the pa ...
,
Balsam Balsam is the resinous exudate (or sap) which forms on certain kinds of trees and shrubs. Balsam (from Latin balsamum "gum of the balsam tree", ultimately from Semitic, Aramaic ''busma'', Arabic ''balsam'' and Hebrew ''basam'', "spice", "perfume ...
and
White Pine ''Pinus'', the pines, is a genus of approximately 111 extant tree and shrub species. The genus is currently split into two subgenera: subgenus ''Pinus'' (hard pines), and subgenus ''Strobus'' (soft pines). Each of the subgenera have been further ...
. The undergrowth is generally thick and is composed of Hemlock Balsam and
Hazel The hazel (''Corylus'') is a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae,Germplasmgobills Information Network''Corylus''Rushforth, K. (1999). ...
. Balsam and
Elm Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the flowering plant genus ''Ulmus'' in the plant family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical-montane regions of North ...
line the Margins of Meadow and
Alder Alders are trees comprising the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus comprises about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few sp ...
Bottoms. The River Enters the Township near the SE corner of Section 12 and flows a West SouthWesterly course, with a Rapid current and is from 2 too 4 feet deep, and is adapted to the forming of a good motive power for mills. There is no improvements in this Township.''

The

federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

granted the first

land patent A land patent is a form of letters patent assigning official ownership of a particular tract of land that has gone through various legally-prescribed processes like surveying and documentation, followed by the letter's signing, sealing, and publi ...

s in McKinley in 1860, giving four 160-acre parcels along the Jump River in sections 30 and 29 (around the modern Geise/Winger neighborhood) to Belinda Bonesteel and Harrison Hobart. These grants were payment to descendants of Ah-Pashe-Aien, Ke-Woi-Tch-Ke-Tas-Shew, Ky-Sha-Shek and Ky-Ny-Wack-Um, who had served in the

Black Hawk War The Black Hawk War was a conflict between the United States and Native Americans led by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. The war erupted after Black Hawk and a group of Sauks, Meskwakis (Fox), and Kickapoos, known as the "British Band", crosse ...

in Captain

Augustin Grignon Augustin Grignon (June 27, 1780 – October 2, 1860) was a fur trader and general entrepreneur in the Fox River Valley in territorial Wisconsin, surviving into its early years of statehood. He was born in Green Bay, the third of nine children ...

Menominee The Menominee (; mez, omǣqnomenēwak meaning ''"Menominee People"'', also spelled Menomini, derived from the Ojibwe language word for "Wild Rice People"; known as ''Mamaceqtaw'', "the people", in the Menominee language) are a federally recog ...

Volunteers thirty years before. Apparently they had sold their long-awaited payment for their military service to Bonesteel and Hobart. The largest grantee was

Ezra Cornell Ezra Cornell (; January 11, 1807 – December 9, 1874) was an American businessman, politician, and philanthropist. He was the founder of Western Union and a co-founder of Cornell University. He also served as President of the New York Agricul ...

, who received many half-sections in McKinley in 1868 and 1869 to help finance the new

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

under the

Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act The Morrill Land-Grant Acts are United States statutes that allowed for the creation of land-grant colleges in U.S. states using the proceeds from sales of federally-owned land, often obtained from indigenous tribes through treaty, cession, or se ...

. In 1902 a

of McKinley was carved out of the larger town of

Westboro Westboro may refer to: Places Canada *Westboro, Ottawa, Ontario, a neighbourhood ** Westboro Station (OC Transpo), an OC Transpo Transitway Station United States * Westboro (Topeka), Kansas, a residential neighborhood *Westboro, Missouri * Westbor ...

, which had previously spanned the north of Taylor County. This McKinley included the present-day towns of McKinley and

until 1923. Then the town of Jump River was split off, leaving McKinley with its present boundaries.Nagel, Paul. ''I Remember; I Remember: History and Lore of Jump River Wisconsin,'' 1986.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, the town has a total area of 35.8 square miles (92.8 km²), of which, 35.8 square miles (92.6 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.2 km²) of it (0.20%) is water. The

, Alder Creek, and Shoulder Creek flow through the township, all generally heading to the west-southwest. Monson Flowage and Holzer Flowage are in a part of the Pershing Wildlife Area on the southern edge.

Demographics

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

of 2000, there were 418 people, 139 households, and 104 families residing in the town. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

was 11.7 people per square mile (4.5/km²). There were 186 housing units at an average density of 5.2 per square mile (2.0/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 99.76%

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

, and 0.24% from two or more races. There were 139 households, out of which 37.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.9% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...

living together, 7.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.5% were non-families. 19.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.01 and the average family size was 3.50. In the town, the population was spread out, with 34.4% under the age of 18, 5.5% from 18 to 24, 28.5% from 25 to 44, 18.9% from 45 to 64, and 12.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 102.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.6 males. The median income for a household in the town was $36,528, and the median income for a family was $43,906. Males had a median income of $22,303 versus $23,333 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the town was $16,276. About 6.7% of families and 13.3% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

, including 17.6% of those under age 18 and 10.3% of those age 65 or over.

References

External links

{{authority control Towns in Taylor County, Wisconsin Towns in Wisconsin

History

Geography

Demographics

See also

References

External links