Little Wolf, Wisconsin
| Little Wolf, Wisconsin | |
|---|---|
| Town | |
 Location of Little Wolf, Wisconsin |
|
| Coordinates: 44°26′52″N 88°54′44″W / 44.44778°N 88.91222°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Wisconsin |
| County | Waupaca |
| Area | |
| • Total | 34.0 sq mi (87.9 km2) |
| • Land | 33.5 sq mi (86.8 km2) |
| • Water | 0.4 sq mi (1.1 km2) |
| Elevation | 804 ft (245 m) |
| Population (2000) | |
| • Total | 1,445 |
| • Density | 43.1/sq mi (16.6/km2) |
| Time zone | Central (CST) (UTC-6) |
| • Summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
| FIPS code | 55-45300 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1583587 |
| Website | http://townoflittlewolf.com |
Little Wolf is a town in Waupaca County, Wisconsin, United States. The ghost town of Little Wolf was located in the town.
The town was first settled by William Goldberg in 1848, who was joined by George E. and J.P. More in 1849, and James and Peter Meiklejohn in 1850. The first settlements straddled the river on the southern border of the township. The town was at first known as Centerville, and was organized on March 5, 1852. On November 15, 1854 the town changed its name to Little Wolf. After Jack Brickley built the first bridge across the river in 1858, it was also known as Brickley Bridge, but the name Little Wolf stuck after A.P. Jones established a new town post office in January 1859.
The Town of Royalton separated from Little Wolf in 1853. The towns Town of Union was separated from Little Wolf in 1857, with the Town of Dupont separating from the Town of Union in 1864.
The area grew fairly quickly in just ten years. Goldberg and the Mores built a sawmill there in 1849. Andrew Van Adestine fired up a smithy, Dan Smith and A.P. Jones opened groceries, and Jack Brickley bridged the river. Although Peter Meiklejohn set aside a room in his house for the village's first teacher, Miss Fortner, to use as a class room in 1853, the village raised a school house in 1857, the same year that Meikeljohn opened a grist mill on the southwest bank of the river. A two-story hotel, also operated by the Meiklejohns, stood near the grist mill.
Little Wolf never grew much bigger, though, and probably began to decline in the 1870s, after another lumbermill was built upriver in 1871, and the railroad was routed through Manawa in 1873. Up until recently, the hotel and the foundations of the grist mill were all that remained to show that the village ever existed. Today, even the hotel is gone.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 34.0 square miles (87.9 km²), of which, 33.5 square miles (86.8 km²) of it is land and 0.4 square miles (1.1 km²) of it (1.27%) is water.
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