Somers is a
village
A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...
in
Kenosha 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 8,402 at the
2020 census. Somers has a
post office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...
with
ZIP code 53171.
The former unincorporated communities of Berryville, Central Park, and Kellogg's Corners are located in the village.
The village of Somers was incorporated on April 24, 2015, following a local election that favored incorporation. While the village originally only included the eastern half of the town's former boundaries, it now includes almost all of the original town;
the remainder is still a town and is slated to become part of
Kenosha by 2035.
History
The community was originally named Pike on April 15, 1843, by an act of the Wisconsin territorial legislature, and became Somers in 1851.
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 village has a total area of , of which are land and are water.
Demographics
Somers first appeared in the
2020 U.S. Census after incorporation in 2015.
[
]
Neighborhoods
Berryville
Berryville is a residential and business community located in the eastern part of the village, at the intersection of Kenosha County Highway A (7th Street) and Highway 32
The following highways are numbered 32:
International
* Asian Highway 32
* European route E32
Australia
* Great Western Highway
* Barrier Highway
* East Derwent Highway
* Mitchell Highway
Canada
* Alberta Highway 32
* Manitoba Highway 3 ...
(Sheridan Road). The community was named for the proliferation of strawberry farms in the area. The Berryville School was a community fixture into the 1980s, when it was demolished for new housing. Adjacent to the school to the south was the Mid-City Outdoor Theatre (1948-1984), one of Wisconsin's first drive-in theatres.
Central Park
Central Park is a residential and business community within the southeastern corner of the village. It is centered on the intersection of Sheridan Road (Highway 32
The following highways are numbered 32:
International
* Asian Highway 32
* European route E32
Australia
* Great Western Highway
* Barrier Highway
* East Derwent Highway
* Mitchell Highway
Canada
* Alberta Highway 32
* Manitoba Highway 3 ...
) and Twelfth Street (Kenosha County Highway E). The area once was the location of the namesake Central Park, a sprawling private recreational park, baseball field, and picnic grounds that was served by a stop of the Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light Company (TMER&L) interurban line which had installed layover sidings for its rail cars waiting to reload and return picnickers to their homes. Central Park often hosted many annual company picnics including those of the Nash Motors
Nash Motors Company was an American automobile manufacturer based in Kenosha, Wisconsin from 1916 until 1937. From 1937 through 1954, Nash Motors was the automotive division of Nash-Kelvinator. As sales of smaller firms declined after 1950 in ...
Company of Kenosha. The Central Park picnic grounds were later sold and renamed "Minkowski's Grove", which since has been subdivided and no longer exists for public usage.[Kenosha County Place Names](_blank)
/ref>
Kellogg's Corners
Kellogg's Corners (often called Kellogg) is a residential and agricultural community in the northwestern corner of the village.Greek Revival
Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...
mid-19th century Kellogg's Corners School, an early historic one-room school
One-room schoolhouses, or One-room schools, have been commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries, including Prussia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, and Spa ...
of frame construction that eventually became privately owned and was demolished by its owner in 1990. The school's rustic foundation remains to mark its location.
Education
* Shoreland Lutheran High School is a private Christian high school of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), also referred to simply as the Wisconsin Synod, is an American Confessional Lutheran denomination of Christianity. Characterized as Christian theology, theologically conservative, it was founded ...
(WELS).
Notable people
* William H. Flett, Wisconsin legislator
* Margaret Landon, author of '' Anna and the King of Siam''
* Drue Leyton, actress, writer, member of the French Resistance
* Conrad Shearer, Wisconsin legislator['Wisconsin Blue Book 1923,' Biographical Sketch of Conrad Shearer, pg. 625]
References
External links
Village and Town of Somers official website
{{authority control
Villages in Kenosha County, Wisconsin
Villages in Wisconsin