The Town of Seneca is located in Wood 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 population was 1,202 at the 2000 census.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the town has a total area of 32.4 square miles (84.0 km²), of which, 32.2 square miles (83.5 km²) of it is land and 0.2 square miles (0.5 km²) of it (0.59%) is water.

History

The east end of the town, within three miles of the

Wisconsin River The Wisconsin River is the longest river in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, at approximately 430 miles (692 km) long. As a tributary of the Mississippi River, it is part of the Mississippi River System. The river's name was first recorded in 1673 b ...

, was in the "Indian strip," sold by the

Menominee The Menominee ( ; meaning ''"Menominee People"'', also spelled Menomini, derived from the Ojibwe language word for "Wild Rice People"; known as ''Mamaceqtaw'', "the people", in the Menominee language) are a federally recognized tribe of Na ...

to the U.S. government in the 1836

Treaty of the Cedars The Treaty of the Cedars was an 1836 agreement between the Menominee Indian nation and the United States in which the Menominee ceded to the United States about of land for $700,000. The agreement opened that huge tract of forest to logging and Wh ...

. As such, it was logged and surveyed early. In 1839 a crew working for the U.S. government surveyed what would become the east and south edges of the town, walking through the woods and crossing the river, measuring with

chain A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. A ...

and

compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with No ...

. In 1851 a different crew surveyed the section lines of the town, producing this general description:

''The East & South East portion of this Town consists of alternate ridges of pine barrens and
Tamarack ''Larix laricina'', commonly known as the tamarack, hackmatack, eastern larch, black larch, red larch, or American larch, is a species of larch native to Canada, from eastern Yukon and Inuvik, Northwest Territories east to Newfoundland, and als ...
Swamps. There is a small portion of land near the river that is tolerably fair but the bottoms on the river are worthless(?) owing to their being overflowed nearly every year. The West & north parts of the Town consist of a portion of the great
Cranberry Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus ''Oxycoccus'' of the genus ''Vaccinium''. Cranberries are low, creeping shrubs or vines up to long and in height; they have slender stems that are not th ...
Marsh which extends to & beyond
Yellow river The Yellow River, also known as Huanghe, is the second-longest river in China and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system on Earth, with an estimated length of and a Drainage basin, watershed of . Beginning in the Bayan H ...
. The Marsh is wet & unfit for cultivation & has upon it small Islands (so called) of hard land with a few trees; Scattering
Pines A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as ...
, Tamarack & Blk
Oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...
are found nearly all over it so much so that we almost invariably found bearing trees for our corners. The Marsh may be valuable for the Cranberries which it produces abundantly but otherwise is entirely(?) worthless(?).''

The Town of Seneca took its name from the now-extinct hamlet of Seneca, which was located within its borders.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 1,202 people, 408 households, and 330 families residing in the town. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was 37.3 people per square mile (14.4/km²). There were 422 housing units at an average density of 13.1 per square mile (5.1/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 90.68%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 5.99% Native American, 2.33% Asian, and 1.00% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 0.92% of the population. There were 408 households, out of which 38.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 71.1% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 6.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 18.9% were non-families. 14.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.94 and the average family size was 3.27. In the town, the population was spread out, with 28.8% under the age of 18, 7.0% from 18 to 24, 29.5% from 25 to 44, 23.5% from 45 to 64, and 11.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 104.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.9 males. The median income for a household in the town was $54,118, and the median income for a family was $58,750. Males had a median income of $39,375 versus $26,974 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the town was $21,833. About 3.0% of families and 6.0% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 5.4% of those under age 18 and 15.4% of those age 65 or over.

References

External links

Town of Seneca, Wisconsin

1852 plat map covering eastern part of town of Seneca
(for plats of the western part, see Cranmoor)
1879 plat map of eastern part

1896 plat map of eastern part

1909 plat map

1928 plat map

1956 plat map of eastern part
{{authority control Towns in Wood County, Wisconsin Towns in Wisconsin