Colgate is an
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
in
Washington County,
Wisconsin
Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
,
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, straddling the county line with
Waukesha County.
Colgate is located partially in the village of
Richfield, and the village of
Lisbon
Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...
. Its
ZIP Code is 53017.
The population is around 300,
up from about 50 in 1983.
Geography
The
Fox River, an
Illinois River
The Illinois River () is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River at approximately in length. Located in the U.S. state of Illinois, the river has a drainage basin of . The Illinois River begins with the confluence of the Des Plaines ...
tributary, rises in a small, unnamed swamp, southeast of the community of Colgate.
The
Bark River also originates to the north and runs in a southwesterly direction.
The
Canadian National Railway
The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States.
CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...
line runs North-South, and there was originally a depot there.
County Road
A county highway (also county road or county route; usually abbreviated CH or CR) is a road in the United States and in the Canadian province of Ontario that is designated and/or maintained by the county highway department. Route numbering can ...
Q, also known as County Line Road, is the main road in Colgate, and runs East-West along the border between Washington and Waukesha counties. It was formerly called Main Street.
History
Colgate was known as Colgate Station at first.
It was named after James Colgate, a
construction engineer
Construction engineering, also known as construction operations, is a professional subdiscipline of civil engineering that deals with the designing, planning, construction, and operations management of infrastructure such as roadways, tunnels, bri ...
for the rail line that still runs through the community.
The post office was established January 11, 1887,
with its first
postmaster
A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...
being Andrew Ennis, Sr.
It operated out of the railroad depot on the Lisbon side of Colgate.
Ennis was appointed on July 21, 1887.
August B. Henshell was appointed postmaster in 1889.
On August 30, 1898 Henshell was replaced by Max Manthey.
Manthey owned the
general store
A general merchant store (also known as general merchandise store, general dealer, village shop, or country store) is a rural or small-town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, someti ...
and was a supervisor on the Lisbon Town Board.
On October 1, 1898 the post office relocated to the general store,
which was also on the south side (Lisbon side) of the road.
A cross-street on this side was named Wagner Street in his honor, which is now called Short Road.
This also had a cross street called Melville Street, which no longer exists.
The night of October 16, 1901, two
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
-bound freight trains collided on the
Wisconsin Central Railway tracks between Colgate and
Rugby Junction. Two cars derailed, but no injuries were reported.
On December 8, 1902 a fire broke out in the general store.
Manthey, his spouse, seven children, and a servant were asleep at the time.
Only Ms. Manthey and two of their children survived.
The Manthey general store had also been destroyed by fire in the previous year.
The post office/general store was rebuilt December 15, 1903,
this time on the northern (Washington County) side of the road.
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...
appointed Frank E. Stirn as postmaster.
On April 28, 1934, a 1929 coupe allegedly carrying members of the
Dillinger Gang was seen in a Colgate garage, less than a week after the gang was spotted in
Manitowish Waters.
Frank Stirn resigned as postmaster in 1946 and his spouse Elfrieda was appointed to the role by postmaster
Robert E. Hannegan.
She had the position until 1966.
The 20th
Alice in Dairyland, crowned in 1967, was Kristin Williams of Colgate.
The occasion resulted in the biggest parade the community has ever had, consisting of 89 vehicles proceeding what was then still called Main Street (now County Line Road/County Road Q).
Around 5:00AM on December 30, 1967, a house fire broke out in Colgate.
Forty firefighters from surrounding communities responded, and Robert Pickhard from the
Richfield Volunteer Fire Company lost his life battling the blaze.
He is the only firefighter in the company's history to die in the line of duty.
The
United States Senate
The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...
confirmed Lynn E. Burton as postmaster on January 17, 1969.
In 1983
turkeys
The turkey is a large bird in the genus ''Meleagris'', native to North America. There are two extant turkey species: the wild turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo'') of eastern and central North America and the ocellated turkey (''Meleagris ocell ...
were rare enough in the area that when a friendly hen adopted downtown Colgate as her home, it made news.
Postmaster Burton witnessed the bird's death from a hit and run collision in November of that year.
In November 1987, the former Stirn General Store and Post Office caught fire after standing for 84 years. Firefighters from Lisbon and Richfield put out the blaze, but the building was destroyed. The post office had already been moved to its current building to the east of where the fire was.
In 2018, echoing events of 35 years earlier, there were several
cougar
The cougar (''Puma concolor'') (, ''Help:Pronunciation respelling key, KOO-gər''), also called puma, mountain lion, catamount and panther is a large small cat native to the Americas. It inhabits North America, North, Central America, Cent ...
sightings in the area.
Three sightings were in Colgate,
and it is likely that all the sightings were of a single individual from
South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...
.
Management of the Colgate Post Office
Though many businesses have operated through the years there, the one constant is the post office. Though a number of businesses still operate in the Colgate ZIP Code of 53017, the post office is the only non-residential establishment still open in downtown Colgate.
On May 18, 2013, the Colgate post office was converted to a Remotely Managed Post Office.
It no longer has its own postmaster and operates under the direction of the postmaster of the
Hubertus Post Office.
Notes
External links
Sussex-Lisbon Area Historical Society, Inc. webpage describing early history of Colgate
{{authority control
Unincorporated communities in Washington County, Wisconsin
Unincorporated communities in Waukesha County, Wisconsin
Unincorporated communities in Wisconsin