Sawyer County, Wisconsin

Sawyer County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Hayward
Year Organized: 1883
Square Miles: 1,256

Court House:

10610 Main Street, PO Box 836
County Courthouse
Hayward, WI 54843-6595

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Named in honor of Philetus Sawyer of Oshkosh. Born in Vermont in 1816, he removed to Wisconsin in 1847 and two years later started a sawmill at Oshkosh. In 1857 and 1861 he was a member of the assembly; 1865-75, he represented Wisconsin in Congress. In 1881 he was chosen United States senator and re-elected for a second term. He died in 1900 at his Oshkosh home.

[Source: Kellogg, Louise Phelps. "Derivation of County Names" in Proceedings of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin for 1909, pages 219-231. ]

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Sawyer County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of 2000, the population was 16,196. Its county seat is Hayward. The county is named for Philetus Sawyer, who represented Wisconsin in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate in the 19th century.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,350 square miles (3,497 km²), of which, 1,256 square miles (3,254 km²) of it is land and 94 square miles (243 km²) of it (6.95%) is water.

Located in northwest Wisconsin, Sawyer County is almost completely forest and lakes with a long history of logging. The Flambeau River State Forest and Lake Chippewa Flowage are located here, along with the Quiet and Spider Lakes. Almost all of the county is located in what is known as the North Central Forest Ecological Landscape, "Landforms characterized by end and ground moraines with some pitted outwash and bedrock controlled areas. Kettle depressions and steep ridges are found in the northern portion."

Neighboring Counties:

Bayfield County - north
Ashland County - northeast
Price County - east
Rusk County - south
Barron County - southwest
Washburn County - west
Douglas County - northwest

Cities and Towns:

- Bass Lake	town
- Couderay	village	Incorporated Area
- Draper	town
- Edgewater	town
- Exeland	village	Incorporated Area
- Hayward (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Hunter	town
- Lenroot	town
- Meadowbrook	town
- Meteor	town
- Ojibwa	town
- Radisson	village	Incorporated Area
- Round Lake	town
- Sand Lake	town
- Spider Lake	town
- Stone Lake	town
- Weirgor	town
- Winter	village	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resource Guide

Counties: US Map

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."

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