Little Chicago is an unincorporated residential and agricultural community on Marathon County Highway A in located along the border of the towns of

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

and

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, in

Marathon County, Wisconsin Marathon County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 138,013. Its county seat is Wausau, Wisconsin, Wausau. It was founded in 1850, cr ...

, United States.

History

The community was originally named Ziegler. In 1898, Ziegler had 60 people, a

planing mill A planing mill is a facility that takes cut and Wood drying, seasoned Wood, wooden boards from a sawmill and turns them into finished dimensional lumber. Machines used in the mill include the Thickness planer, planer and matcher, the Moulding plan ...

and a

saw mill 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 ...

, one cheese factory; one hardware and one shoe store, and a Lutheran church. The

United States Post Office The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal serv ...

delivered mail three times a week. In 1909, Ziegler had a post office. The community reportedly got the name Little Chicago during the

Prohibition era Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacturing, manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption ...

in the early 20th century, when a local tavern was dispensing illegal alcoholic beverages.

Notable people

Robert Plisch Robert Plisch (April 7, 1845 – March 13, 1915) was an American politician and farmer. Born in Silesia, Kingdom of Prussia, Plisch emigrated with his family to the United States in 1856. He was a farmer and lived in the community of Ziegle ...

, Wisconsin state legislator and farmer, lived in Ziegler.'Wisconsin Blue Book 1895,' Biographical Sketch of Robert Plisch, pg. 684

Media

Little Chicago was the setting of

Adam Rapp Adam Rapp (born June 15, 1968) is an American novelist, playwright, screenwriter, musician and film director. His play ''Red Light Winter'' was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2006. Early life Rapp was born in Chicago to Mary Lee (née Baird; died ...

's novel '' Little Chicago''.

References

Unincorporated communities in Marathon County, Wisconsin Unincorporated communities in Wisconsin {{MarathonCountyWI-geo-stub