Bird's-eye view map of Ashland, Wisconsin, drawn by C. J. Pauli, published by Marr & Richards Engraving Company in 1890, reprint. While it is known that at least eight different Native American tribes have lived along the Chequamegon Bay, it was the Ojibwe Tribe that welcomed the first Europeans who arrived. French fur traders arrived in 1659 and erected the first European built structure in Wisconsin. The first Jesuit missionary, Father Claude-Jean Allouez, arrived five years later and built a chapel. The area was claimed by four different nations (Spanish, French, English and American) before becoming part of America's original Northwest Territories, and was then made part of Indiana, Michigan and Illinois Territories before becoming Wisconsin Territory.
American settlers arrived in 1854, when Asaph Whittlesey and George Kilborn left Ohio to explore the head of Chequamegon Bay. Whittlesey built a cabin in Ashland and lived there with his wife, Lucy, and his daughter, Eugenia. The town quickly developed, with the Wisconsin Central Railroad connecting Ashland to Chicago in 1877.
This map captures the city of Ashland as it appeared just three years after incorporation as a city, and just one year after the Wisconsin Central Railroad Depot was constructed. Features numbered references to the following locations: 1. Court House. 2. Jail. 3. Post Office. 4. Public Schools. 5. Episcopal Church. 6. Methodist Church. 7. Presbyterian Church. 8. Swedish Lutheran Church. 9. St. Agnes Catholic Church and School. 10. Baptist Church. 11. Congregational Church. 12. Norwegian Lutheran Church. 13. Swedish Baptist Church. 14. German Evangelical Church. 15. Chequamegon Hotel. 16. Colby Hotel. 17. Daily Press Offices. 18. Vaughn Library Building. 19. Knight Block. 20. Northern Flour Mill and Elevator. 21. Ashland Brewery. 22. Wisconsin Central Shop and Round House. 23. M., L. S. & W. Machine Shop. 24. Northern Pacific Round House. 25. C. M. St. P. & O. Round House. 26. Parish Manufacturing Works. 27. Kennedy's Furniture Factory. 28. Bay Shore Lumber Co. 29. Lake Shore Ore Docks. 30. Columbus and Hocking Coal and Iron Co. Docks. 31. Water Works. 32. Doherty's Mill. 33. Doherty & Monaghan Box Factory. 34. Machine Shops. 35. Wisconsin Central Ore Docks. 36. Mowatt & Thompson's Mill. 37. Sutherland's Mill. 38. Gas and Electric Works. 39. Ohio Coal Co. 40. Wisconsin Central Commercial Dock. 41. Laundry. 42. Chequamegon Dock. 43. Docks and Kilns Ashland Lime, Salt and Cement. 44. Keystone Lumber Co. Docks and Mill. 45. Keystone Lumber Co. Planing Mill. 46. Shores Lumber Co. Mills and Docks. 47. Durfee's Mill and Docks. 48. Ashland Iron & Steel Co. Blast Furnace. 49. Tanner's Brick Yard. 50. Scott, Hubbell & Taylor Planing Mill. 51. Kruschke's Excelsior Factory and Planing Mill. 52. Zipperer & Foster Bottling Works. 53. Bardon Hose House. 54. Standard Oil Company's Warehouses. 55. Sister's Hospital. 56. Rinehart Hospital. 57. Street Car Barns. 58. Ashland National Bank. 59. Northern National Bank. 60. Security Savings Bank. 61. First National Bank. |