Ulao, Wisconsin ( ) 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 ...

in the Town of Grafton in

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. It is located at the intersection of Ulao Road and the old Chicago and Northwestern railroad running from

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 ...

to Green Bay. Today,

I-43 Interstate 43 (I-43) is a Interstate Highway located entirely within the US state of Wisconsin, connecting I-39/ I-90 in Beloit with Milwaukee and I-41, U.S. Highway 41 (US 41) and US 141 in Green Bay. State Trunk Highwa ...

runs a few hundred feet to the west of the town. The

Ulao Creek Ulao Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 19, 2011 tributary of the Milwaukee River in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. It begins in a swampy area south o ...

flows through the community.

Toponymy

There are several explanations of the community's name. Author Beatrice Krier claims that Ulao is a corruption of the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

word ''Ulloa'', which was probably chosen because of a local veteran named Weber, who had participated in the

Siege of Veracruz The Battle of Veracruz was a 20-day siege of the key Mexican beachhead seaport of Veracruz during the Mexican–American War. Lasting from March 9–29, 1847, it began with the first large-scale amphibious assault conducted by United States ...

in March 1847 during the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...

, when U.S. troops under the command of

Winfield Scott Winfield Scott (June 13, 1786May 29, 1866) was an American military commander and political candidate. He served as a general in the United States Army from 1814 to 1861, taking part in the War of 1812, the Mexican–American War, the early s ...

surrounded and overran the castle of

San Juan de Ulúa San Juan de Ulúa, also known as Castle of San Juan de Ulúa, is a large complex of fortresses, prisons and one former palace on an island of the same name in the Gulf of Mexico overlooking the seaport of Veracruz, Mexico. Juan de Grijalva's ...

, which itself was named for the Spanish explorer

Francisco de Ulloa Francisco de Ulloa () (died 1540) was a Spanish explorer who explored the west coast of present-day Mexico and the Baja California Peninsula under the commission of Hernán Cortés. Ulloa's voyage was among the first to disprove the cartograph ...

, who had navigated the western coast of

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

as part of the 1539 expedition of the conquistador Hernán Cortés. Other explanations claim that it was named after a Native American leader, that it's a corruption of an American general's French

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

name, or that the whistles of the engines of the Northwestern Railroad's pilot engines screamed something akin to "YOU LAY O" as they approached the community's depot.

History

Ulao's founder was an investor named James T. Gifford, who also founded the city of

Elgin, Illinois Elgin ( ) is a city in Cook and Kane counties in the northern part of the U.S. state of Illinois. Elgin is located northwest of Chicago, along the Fox River. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 114,797, the seventh-large ...

. In 1847, built Port Ulao on the edge of the clay bluffs on the shore of Lake Michigan, east of the present-day community. At the time, steamships were common on the Great Lakes and burned massive amounts of wood for fuel. A single steamship could consume wood equivalent to several acres worth of forest on single journey. Much of Grafton was primeval beech-maple forest, which settlers were clearing for agriculture, and Gifford saw an opportunity for Ulao to prosper as a refueling station for steamships. He built a sawmill, a warehouse, and a 1000-foot-long pier on the lake where ships docked to buy wood. The steep clay bluffs along the lake can be as high as 140 feet, so Gifford used a chute to transport logs down to the pier.Early History of Grafton is Recalled in Talk by Ralph Zaun
/ref> In 1847, the territorial legislature granted Gifford a charter to build a plank road from Port Ulao west to the

Wisconsin River The Wisconsin River is a tributary of the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. At approximately 430 miles (692 km) long, it is the state's longest river. The river's name, first recorded in 1673 by Jacques Marquette as "Meskous ...

. Only three miles of it were actually built, but this turnpike, now known as Ulao Road, became the basis of today's Highway 60. In 1856, eight members of the Strangite sect of the Latter Day Saint movement were forced to leave their home on Beaver Island on the

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

side of the lake and moved to Ulao. The community prospered in the 1850s and 1860s and had a post office from 1850 until 1864, but by the end of the American Civil War, steamships relied less on wood as a fuel source and Ozaukee County's forests had been largely depleted, forcing Ulao into decline with most of the land being converted to agriculture.

Landmarks

* Kevich Light is located in Ulao.

Notable residents

Charles J. Guiteau Charles Julius Guiteau ( ; September 8, 1841June 30, 1882) was an American man who assassinated James A. Garfield, president of the United States, on July 2, 1881. Guiteau falsely believed he had played a major role in Garfield's election vic ...

, assassin of U.S. President James Garfield, was the son of Port Ulao's land surveyor and lived in the community from 1850 to 1855.

References

External links