New Cassel or New Cassell, formerly Crouchville, was a village on the Milwaukee River in the northwestern corner of 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 ...

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

in Fond du Lac 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 ...

. It was eventually absorbed into

Campbellsport, Wisconsin Campbellsport is a village in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 2,016 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. History The village was named after Stuart Campbell, an early sett ...

(the two had been called "The Twin Villages") after the latter was incorporated in 1902, and now constitutes the east end of that village. It was the first settlement in Auburn, having been founded by one Ludin Crouch, a schoolteacher from New York State. Crouch and a Native American companion named Weh-aug-wok-na had come up the Milwaukee River in February 1846 in search of a good site to build a

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, a ...

for waterpower, and found it at this spot. Crouch and his brother-in-law John Howell returned in the spring and claimed land on each side of the river, in order to build a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

. The dam was built; the new settlement was formally named Crouchville on July 4, 1846, and by fall Crouch's sawmill was in operation. It was the first in the region, and supplied demand as far away as Taycheedah. By 1856, having changed hands several times, it had fallen into disuse; one Emil Brayman purchased the site, and started to build a flour mill at that location. He got the village's name changed to New Cassel, after his homeland of Hesse-Cassel, but never completed the flour mill. At that time, the local post office, previously called the Auburn post office, was moved to the New Cassel mill and given the same name as the village. By 1868, there was a hotel, a flour mill, three churches (

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and "Protestant or

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

"), three general stores, a tin shop, two smithies, two tailors, two carpenters, a

brick mason A bricklayer, which is related to but different from a mason, is a craftsman and tradesman who lays bricks to construct brickwork. The terms also refer to personnel who use blocks to construct blockwork walls and other forms of masonry. ...

, a cabinet maker, two shoemakers, a harnessmaker, two

breweries A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of bee ...

, a

meat market A meat market is, traditionally, a marketplace where meat is sold, often by a butcher. It is a specialized wet market. The term is sometimes used to refer to a meat retail store or butcher's shop, in particular in North America. During the mid ...

, two saloons, a notary public, a

cooper Cooper, Cooper's, Coopers and similar may refer to: * Cooper (profession), a maker of wooden casks and other staved vessels Arts and entertainment * Cooper (producers), alias of Dutch producers Klubbheads * Cooper (video game character), in ...

shop and a physician. On April 28, 1874, Emma Franziska Höll (Sister Mary Alexia) and two other nuns arrived in New Cassel from Schwarzach, in the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

, to establish a new

religious congregation A religious congregation is a type of religious institute in the Catholic Church. They are legally distinguished from religious orders – the other major type of religious institute – in that members take simple vows, whereas members of religio ...

. They built a

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

in New Cassel, and would in subsequent years built other facilities in Wisconsin, including a mission for

Chippewa Indians The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

Reserve, Wisconsin Reserve is a census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Couderay, Sawyer County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 429 at the 2010 census. Geography Reserve is located at (45.859877, -91.372722). According to the United States Cens ...

and what would eventually become the SSSF

motherhouse A motherhouse is the principal house or community for a religious institute. It would normally be where the residence and offices of the religious superior In a hierarchy or tree structure of any kind, a superior is an individual or position at ...

Milwaukee 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. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

. As late as the ''Wisconsin State Gazetteer, 1919-20'' it was listed as a separate settlement. The New Cassel post office was discontinued between 1923 and 1925.Holmes, Fred L., ed. ''The Wisconsin blue book, 1925'' Madison: Democrat Printing Company, State Printer, 1925; p. 714
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Notable people

* James Bamnnon, Wisconsin state legislator *

Louis Eidemiller Louis Eidemiller (March 3, 1851 – November 16, 1888) was an American physician and politician. Born in New York City, Eidemiller settled in the town of Lamartine, Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin in 1855. In 1875, he received his medical degre ...

, Wisconsin state legislator and physician *The

School Sisters of St. Francis The School Sisters of St. Francis (abbreviated SSSF) are an international religious congregation of Catholic sisters, part of the Third Order of Saint Francis, founded in 1874 in New Cassel, Wisconsin. The congregation’s mission covers the United ...

, an order of teaching nuns founded and headquartered in New Cassel.

References

{{authority control Former populated places in Wisconsin Geography of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin