Kickapoo Center 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 ...

located in the town of

Kickapoo The Kickapoo people (; Kickapoo: Kiikaapoa or Kiikaapoi; ) are an Algonquian-speaking Native American tribe and Indigenous people in Mexico, originating in the region south of the Great Lakes. There are three federally recognized Kickapoo trib ...

Vernon County, Wisconsin Vernon County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,714. Its county seat is Viroqua. History Vernon County was renamed from Bad Ax County on March 22, 1862. Bad Ax County had been created o ...

, United States. Kickapoo Center is located on

Wisconsin Highway 131 State Trunk Highway 131 (also called Highway 131, STH-131 or WIS 131) is a state highway (US), state highway in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The highway is located in Wisconsin's Driftless Area, passing through Crawford County, Wisconsin, ...

near the

Kickapoo River The Kickapoo River is a tributary of the Wisconsin River in the state of Wisconsin, United States. It is named for the Kickapoo people, Kickapoo Indians who occupied Wisconsin before the influx of white settlers in the early 19th century. Water ...

, south-southwest of

Viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

History

The first post office opened in Kickapoo in 1853; Robert Wilson was the first postmaster. Kickapoo was planned in 1857 by Joseph Wood on land belonging to Wilson, and the first schoolhouse was built of logs in the same year. However, it soon burnt down. Another schoolhouse was built on the same spot and still stands at a nearby location and is used as a residence. It was used as a schoolhouse until the 1960s. The early community had a store and a hotel, the latter of which closed in 1873; a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, 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 ...

opened across the river from Kickapoo Center in 1883. The community was named for the

Kickapoo people The Kickapoo people (; Kickapoo language, Kickapoo: Kiikaapoa or Kiikaapoi; ) are an Algonquian languages, Algonquian-speaking Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe and Indigenous people in Mexico, originating in the regio ...

. Now, the Kickapoo River has reclaimed all of the streets and buildings and the only remnant of the once thriving town is a depression that once was the basement of the store owned by Knox and St John.

Notes

Unincorporated communities in Vernon County, Wisconsin Unincorporated communities in Wisconsin Populated places established in 1857 1857 establishments in Wisconsin {{VernonCountyWI-geo-stub