Vilas County ( ) is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

in the state of

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. As of the 2020 census, the population was 23,047. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

is Eagle River. The county partly overlaps the reservation of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. The county is considered a high-recreation retirement destination by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

History

Native Americans

Native Americans have lived in what is now Vilas County for thousands of years. The county contains archaeological sites dating to the prehistoric

Woodland period In the classification of :category:Archaeological cultures of North America, archaeological cultures of North America, the Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures spanned a period from roughly 1000 BC to European contact i ...

. In the eighteenth century, the area was disputed by the Dakota and

Ojibwe The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...

people. According to oral histories, the conflict culminated in Ojibwe victory in a battle on Strawberry Island in Flambeau Lake around 1745. Ojibwe people have continued to live in the area ever since, securing the Lac du Flambeau Indian Reservation in the 1854 Treaty of La Pointe.

Settlement

The first recorded white settler was a man named Ashman who established a trading post in Lac du Flambeau in 1818.Vilas County, WI Government Main Page
Accessed January 11, 2011 In the 1850s migrants from

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

, primarily from

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

and

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

, constructed wagon roads and trails through Vilas County including the Ontonagan Mail Trail and a military road from Fort Howard to Fort Wilkins in Copper Harbor, Michigan. Vilas County was set off from Oneida County on April 12, 1893, and named for William Freeman Vilas. Originally from

, Vilas represented Wisconsin in the United States Senate from 1891 to 1897.

Logging era

Logging began in the late 1850s. Loggers came from Cortland County, New York, Carroll County, New Hampshire, Orange County, Vermont and Down East

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

in what is now

Washington County, Maine Washington County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maine. As of the 2020 census, its population was 31,095, making it the third-least populous county in Maine. Its county seat is Machias. The county was established on June 25, 1789. ...

and

Hancock County, Maine Hancock County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Maine. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 55,478. Its county seat is Ellsworth, Maine, Ellsworth. The county was incorporated ...

.History of Northern Wisconsin Illustrated. Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1881. Many dams were built throughout the county to assist loggers as they sent their timber downstream to the lumber and paper mills in the Wisconsin River valley. After the county was founded in 1893 and logging ceased to be the primary industry in the area, migrants seeking other forms of employment settled in the county. These later immigrants primarily came from Germany, Ireland and Poland though some came from other parts of the United States as well.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (16%) is water. There are 1,318 lakes in the county. Much of Vilas County is covered by the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest and the Northern Highland-American Legion State Forest as well as extensive county forest lands. Vilas County waters drain to

Lake Superior Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. Lake Michigan–Huron has a larger combined surface area than Superior, but is normally considered tw ...

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and depth () after Lake Superior and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the ...

, and the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

. The

, Flambeau, and Presque Isle Rivers all find their headwaters in Vilas County.

Adjacent counties

* Forest County - southeast * Iron County - west * Oneida County - south * Price County - southwest *

Gogebic County, Michigan Gogebic County ( or ) is a County (United States), county in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 14,380. The county seat is Besse ...

- north *

Iron County, Michigan Iron County is one of two landlocked County (United States), counties in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 11,631. The county sea ...

- northeast

Major highways

* U.S. Highway 45 * U.S. Highway 51 * Highway 17 (Wisconsin) * Highway 32 (Wisconsin) * Highway 47 (Wisconsin) * Highway 70 (Wisconsin) * Highway 155 (Wisconsin)

Buses

Airports

* KARV - Lakeland Airport / Noble F. Lee Memorial Field * KEGV - Eagle River Union Airport * KLNL - Kings Land O' Lakes Airport * D25 - Manitowish Waters Airport

National protected areas

* Chequamegon National Forest (part) * Nicolet National Forest (part) Although these two forests have been administratively combined into the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, it is important to note that the county contains portions of both original forests.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the census of 2020, the population was 23,047. 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 . There were 24,486 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 85.5%

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 ...

, 9.8% Native American, 0.3%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.3% Asian, 0.5% from other races, and 3.7% from two or more races. Ethnically, the population was 2.0%

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.

2000 census

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 21,033 people, 9,066 households, and 6,300 families residing in the county. The

was . There were 22,397 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 89.69%

, 0.20%

, 9.08% Native American, 0.18% Asian, 0.01%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.19% from other races, and 0.65% from two or more races. 0.86% of the population were

or Latino of any race. 37.8% were of German, 7.9% Polish, 6.6% Irish and 5.3% English ancestry. 95.9% spoke English, 1.3% Spanish and 1.2% German as their first language. There were 9,066 households, out of which 23.40% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.40% 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, 7.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.50% were non-families. 26.00% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.60% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.73. In the county, the population was spread out, with 20.70% under the age of 18, 5.00% from 18 to 24, 23.10% from 25 to 44, 28.50% from 45 to 64, and 22.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 46 years. For every 100 females there were 99.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.80 males. In 2017, there were 186 births, giving a general fertility rate of 74.9 births per 1000 women aged 15–44, the 7th highest rate out of all 72 Wisconsin counties. Additionally, there were twelve reported induced abortions performed on women of Vilas County residence in 2017.Reported Induced Abortions in Wisconsin
Office of Health Informatics, Division of Public Health, Wisconsin Department of Health Services. Section: Trend Information, 2013-2017, Table 18, pages 17-18

Economy

The economy in Vilas County is based on tourism centered on its high concentration of lakes and forests. Hunting and sport fishing are the backbones of the fall economy, and ice fishing and especially snowmobiling makes up the bulk of the economy in the wintertime. Logging, forestry, construction and government also account for important parts of the local economy.

Municipalities

The municipalities with their population within Vilas County and their total population as of the 2010 Census, are:

City

* Eagle River – 1,398 (county seat)

Towns

* Arbor Vitae – 3,316 * Boulder Junction – 933 * Cloverland – 1,029 *

Conover Conover may refer to: People * Conover (surname) Places in the United States * Conover, Iowa, a ghost town * Conover, North Carolina, a city * Conover, Ohio, an unincorporated community * Conover, Wisconsin, a town * Conover (community), Wis ...

– 1,235 * Lac du Flambeau – 3,441 *

Land O' Lakes Land O'Lakes, Inc. is an American member-owned agricultural cooperative based in the Minneapolis-St. Paul suburb of Arden Hills, Minnesota, United States, focusing on the dairy industry. The cooperative has 1,959 direct producer-members, 751 me ...

– 861 * Lincoln – 2,423 * Manitowish Waters – 566 * Phelps – 1,200 * Plum Lake – 491 * Presque Isle – 618 * St. Germain – 2,085 * Washington – 1,451 *

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

– 383

Census-designated places

* Boulder Junction – 183 * Lac du Flambeau – 1,969 * Sayner – 207

Other unincorporated communities

* Arbor Vitae *

* Katinka Village *

* Manitowish Waters * Marlands * Phelps * Presque Isle * St. Germain * Star Lake *

Notable people

* Herman Finger was the Treasurer of Vilas County in the 1890s while also co-owning and operating Gerry Lumber Company in the county * Screenwriter Winifred Dunn was born in Vilas County.

Politics

Vilas County has long been one of the most consistently Republican counties in Wisconsin. Since 1944, the county has only once voted Democrat, supporting

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

in his nationwide landslide of 1964, and even then, Johnson won by just 14 votes and 0.25% in the county.

Images

File:Vilas County Fair 2015.jpg, Cars parked by the entrance to the Vilas County Fairgrounds during the 2015 fair File:Vilas County Fair rides 2015.jpg, Rides during the 2015 county fair File:Vilas County Highway Department at Eagle River.jpg, The Vilas County Highway Department near Eagle River

References

External links

Vilas County government website

Vilas County Chamber of Commerce

Vilas County map
from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation {{authority control Populated places established in 1893 1893 establishments in Wisconsin