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Williamsonville, Wisconsin | |
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  Location within the state of Wisconsin  Williamsonville, Wisconsin (the United States) | |
| Coordinates: 44°45′58.7″N87°32′22.4″W / 44.766306°N 87.539556°W |
Williamsonville is a former community in Door County, Wisconsin [1]
Williamsonville was first settled by Thomas and Fred Williamson in the late 1860s. The town was built near Wisconsin Highway 57. In 1870 around the site the brothers built Williamson's Mill, a steam-powered shingle mill on the Ahnapee River. Within a year the town saw the addition of a general store, a boarding house with a well, a blacksmith, and 8 houses. [2] [3] By 1871 the town had 77 residents, the majority being members of the Williamson family, or mill workers. [4]
On October 8th, 1871, the same time that fires were raging in Peshtigo, Wisconsin, a fire started around New Franken and headed north towards Williamsonville. A common misconception is that the Peshtigo fire "jumped" over Green Bay and started in Door County. [4] The fire was caused by the extremely dry conditions and the poor lumbering, leaving behind slash and other debris. The fire grew out of multiple smaller fires. [5] Weeks before the Peshtigo Fire, residents of Williamsonville had been fighting smaller fires and preventing their spread. [6] The fire spread quickly due to strong winds until it turned into a dangerous firestorm. Residents claimed to have experienced “tornadoes of fire”. [7] 35 residents of the city huddled together in a potato field, expecting the cultivated land to stop the fire's spread. However, the firestorm quickly went over the land and killed all 35 of them. [4] 2 men experienced such extreme pain from the fire that they ended their own life by bashing their heads on a stump. [2] At the same time, 7 men hid in the city well. 5 of them would survive. [3] . By the end of the fire, only 17 residents had survived. The only members of the Williamson family to survive was Thomas and his mother. [5] 15 out of 16 horses, 5 out of 6 oxen and 40 pigs also died in the fire. [2] Williamsonville did not rebuild after the fire. In 1878, a map of Door County showed the place named "Tornado" [4] which at that time only consisted of a post office and saloon [5] . The fire cleared so many trees that the main economy in Door County switched from lumber to agriculture. [2] [8]
In 1927, Tornado Memorial County Park was created. The park was the first in the Door County Park System and was named after the tornadoes of fire that occurred. The park was built around the site of the well where 7 men hid during the fire. In 1950 the Wisconsin DOT used the park as a highway wayside rest, but this designation was removed in 2008 with the expansion of Highway 57. [3] The park features 2 bronze plaques memorializing all the lives lost in the fire. The well is still standing and has a wooden memorial to the men who hid in it. [4]
The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned in the American city of Chicago during October 8–10, 1871. The fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed roughly 3.3 square miles (9 km2) of the city including over 17,000 structures, and left more than 100,000 residents homeless. The fire began in a neighborhood southwest of the city center. A long period of hot, dry, windy conditions, and the wooden construction prevalent in the city, led to the conflagration spreading quickly. The fire leapt the south branch of the Chicago River and destroyed much of central Chicago and then crossed the main stem of the river, consuming the Near North Side.
Door County is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,066. Its county seat is Sturgeon Bay.
Stanley is a city in Chippewa and Clark counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 3,804 at the 2020 census. Of this, 3,804 were in Chippewa County, and none were in Clark County.
Marinette is a city in and the county seat of Marinette County, Wisconsin, United States. It is located on the south bank of the Menominee River, at its mouth at Green Bay, part of Lake Michigan; to the north is Stephenson Island, part of the city preserved as park. During the lumbering boom of the late 19th century, Marinette became the tenth-largest city in Wisconsin in 1900, reaching a peak population of 16,195.
The Peshtigo fire was a large forest fire on October 8, 1871, in northeastern Wisconsin, United States, including much of the southern half of the Door Peninsula and adjacent parts of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The largest community in the affected area was Peshtigo, Wisconsin, which had a population of approximately 1,700 residents. The fire burned about 1.2 million acres (490,000 ha) and is the deadliest wildfire in recorded history, with the number of deaths estimated between 1,500 and 2,500. The exact number of deaths is debated. Data from mass graves, both those already exhumed and those still being discovered, show that the death toll of the blaze was most likely greater than the 1889 Johnstown flood death toll of 2,200 people or more.
Peshtigo is a city in Marinette County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was at 3,420 as of the 2020 census The city is surrounded by the Town of Peshtigo. It is part of the Marinette, WI–MI Micropolitan Statistical Area. Peshtigo is known for being the site of the Peshtigo fire of 1871, in which more than 1,200 people died.
The Great Hinckley Fire was a conflagration in the pine forests of the U.S. state of Minnesota in September 1894, which burned an area of at least 200,000 acres, including the town of Hinckley. The official death count was 418; the actual number of fatalities was likely higher. Other sources put the death toll at 476.
A fire whirl, fire devil or fire tornado is a whirlwind induced by a fire and often composed of flame or ash. These start with a whirl of wind, often made visible by smoke, and may occur when intense rising heat and turbulent wind conditions combine to form whirling eddies of air. These eddies can contract to a tornado-like vortex that sucks in debris and combustible gases.
The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion, formerly dedicated as the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help, is a Catholic shrine to Mary, mother of God located within the Diocese of Green Bay in the United States. The chapel is in the Champion section of Green Bay, about 16 miles (26 km) northeast of downtown Green Bay proper. It stands on the site of the reported apparition of Mary to a Belgian-born woman, Adele Brise, in 1859.
Champion is an unincorporated community in the town of Green Bay in Brown County, Wisconsin, United States. It is part of the Green Bay Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town hall for the town of Green Bay is located in Champion and the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion is located just east of Champion.
The Cloquet Fire was an immense forest fire in northern Minnesota, United States in October 1918, caused by sparks on the local railroads amid dry conditions. The fire left much of western Carlton County devastated, mostly affecting Moose Lake, Cloquet, and Kettle River. Cloquet was hardest hit by the fires; it was the worst natural disaster in Minnesota history in terms of the number of casualties in a single day. It is also the third-deadliest wildfire in recorded history, behind the Peshtigo fire of 1871 and a 1936 wildfire that occurred in Kursha-2.
Kursha-2, named so after a road sign, was an industrial community in the Central Meshchyora, Ryazan Oblast, Russia. It was built soon after the October Revolution for the exploitation of the local forests, and was annihilated by a firestorm on 3 August 1936. The disaster caused more than 1,000 human deaths, making it the second-deadliest wildfire in recorded history, behind only the Peshtigo fire of 1871.
The Peshtigo River is a 136-mile-long (219 km) tributary of Green Bay in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The Peshtigo Fire happened in the river's vicinity, and some survivors used the river for refuge from the flames. A section of whitewater on the river called the Roaring Rapids is well known in the region. Further downstream there are two dams known as Caldron Falls Dam and High Falls Dam before collecting the Thunder River.
The Great Michigan Fire was a series of simultaneous forest fires in the state of Michigan in the United States in 1871. They were possibly caused by the same winds that fanned the Great Chicago Fire, the Peshtigo Fire and the Port Huron Fire; some believe lightning or even meteor showers may have started the fires. Several cities, towns and villages, including Alpena, Holland, Manistee, and Port Huron, suffered serious damage or were lost. The concurrent Peshtigo Fire in Wisconsin also destroyed several towns in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. In 1881, much more than half of "the Thumb" region was burned over by the Thumb Fire, which followed part of the same path as the 1871 fires.
Bagley Junction is an unincorporated community located in the town of Porterfield, Marinette County, Wisconsin, United States.
The Henry House in Suamico, Wisconsin is a historic house from the "lumber era" of local history, which appears to be the only structure from that era surviving in the township.
Jean-Pierre Pernin, also known as Peter Pernin in America, was a French Roman Catholic priest, who came to the United States in 1864 as a missionary, working in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. As Catholic pastor of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, he survived the Peshtigo fire on October 8–9, 1871. His survivor's memoir, written originally in French, published simultaneously in English translation, and entitled Le doigt de Dieu est là! / The Finger of God Is There!, is a document important to the history of the fire.
The Wisconsin & Michigan Railway (W&M) was incorporated October 26, 1893, under the general laws of Wisconsin for the purpose of constructing, maintaining, and operating a railroad as described in its articles of incorporation.
The climate of Door County, Wisconsin is tempered by Green Bay and Lake Michigan. There are fewer extremely cold days and fewer hot days than in areas of Wisconsin directly to the west. Lake waters delay the coming of spring as well as extend mild temperatures in the fall. Annual precipitation is slightly lower than elsewhere in northern Wisconsin. The county features a humid continental climate with warm summers and cold snowy winters.
The Great Fires of 1871 were a series of conflagrations that took place throughout the final days of September and first weeks of October 1871 in the United States, primarily occurring in the Midwestern United States. These fires include the Great Chicago Fire, Peshtigo Fire, and Great Michigan Fire. In total, the fires burnt more than 3,000,000 acres of land and killed thousands.
Municipalities and communities of Door County, Wisconsin, United States | ||
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| Footnote | ‡Partially located in Kewaunee County | |