Somers, Wisconsin

Somers, Wisconsin
Village
Location of Somers in Kenosha County, Wisconsin
Coordinates: 42°37′17″N87°52′17″W / 42.62139°N 87.87139°W / 42.62139; -87.87139
Country	United States
State	Wisconsin
County	Kenosha
Area [1]
• Total	25.30 sq mi (65.53 km2)
• Land	25.28 sq mi (65.48 km2)
• Water	0.02 sq mi (0.04 km2)
Elevation [2]	679 ft (207 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	8,402
• Density	331.09/sq mi (127.83/km2)
Time zone	UTC-6 (Central (CST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP Code	53171 [3]
Area code	262
FIPS code	55-74650 [4]
GNIS feature ID	1584173 [2]
Website	somers.org

Somers is a village ^[5] in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 8,402 at the 2020 census. Somers has a post office with ZIP code 53171. ^[3] 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. ^[6] 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. ^{[7] [8]}

History

The community was originally named Pike on April 15, 1843, by an act of the Wisconsin territorial legislature, ^[9] and became Somers in 1851. ^[10]

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 25.274 square miles (65.46 km²), of which 25.257 square miles (65.42 km²) are land and 0.017 square miles (0.044 km²) are water. ^[11]

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 (Sheridan Road). The community was named for the proliferation of strawberry farms in the area. ^[12] 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. ^[13]

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) and Twelfth Street (Kenosha County Highway E). ^[14] 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 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. ^[15]

Kellogg's Corners

Kellogg's Corners (often called Kellogg) is a residential and agricultural community in the northwestern corner of the village. ^[15] It lies at the junction of Interstate 94/U.S. Route 41 and Kenosha County Highway KR at the border with Racine County. ^[16] Kellogg's Corners was first settled in 1837 by three Kellogg brothers - Seth, Chauncey, and Thaddeus.

By far, the most notable Kellogg's Corners landmark was the Greek Revival mid-19th century Kellogg's Corners School, an early historic one-room school 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.^{[ citation needed ]}

Education

• Shoreland Lutheran High School is a private Christian high school of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS). ^[17]

Notable people

• William H. Flett, Wisconsin legislator ^[18]
• Margaret Landon, author of Anna and the King of Siam
• Drue Leyton, actress, writer, member of the French Resistance ^[19]
• Conrad Shearer, Wisconsin legislator ^[20]

References

1. "2019 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
2. "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. October 25, 2007. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
3. United States Postal Service. "USPS - Look Up a ZIP Code" . Retrieved June 25, 2017.
4. "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau . Retrieved January 31, 2008.
5. Brines, Jon (May 24, 2015). "Somers Village Board gets off to rocky start" . Retrieved June 15, 2017.
6. "Incorporation". Village and Town of Somers. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
7. Proposed Village Incorporation (PDF) (Map). Town of Somers. February 23, 2015. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
8. Somers Town & Village Boundaries (PDF) (Map). Village and Town of Somers. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
9. Territory acts. Act 43 ^{[ dead link ]}
10. Territory acts. Act 213 ^{[ dead link ]}
11. "2016 U.S. Gazetteer Files: County Subdivisions - Wisconsin". U.S. Census Bureau . Retrieved June 25, 2017.
12. Chicago and North Western Railway Company (1908). A History of the Origin of the Place Names Connected with the Chicago & North Western and Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railways. p. 44.
13. "Kenosha Co. WI Placenames" . Retrieved January 23, 2023.
14. "Town of Somers, Kenosha County, Wisconsin" . Retrieved January 23, 2023.
15. Kenosha County Place Names
16. "Town of Somers-Kenosha County, Wisconsin" . Retrieved January 23, 2023.
17. "'We prepare them for the next life". Kenosha News. August 10, 1979. p. 9. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
18. 'Wisconsin Blue Book 1911,' Biographical Sketch of William H. Flett, pg. 648
19. 'Drue Leyton; Actress, Member of the French Resistance,' Los Angeles Times, February 11, 1997
20. 'Wisconsin Blue Book 1923,' Biographical Sketch of Conrad Shearer, pg. 625

External links

• Village and Town of Somers official website

42°38′25″N87°54′37″W / 42.64028°N 87.91028°W / 42.64028; -87.91028