Pre-settlement Eight
Native American tribes lived on
Chequamegon Bay. Later settlers included European explorers,
missionaries and
fur traders, and more recently,
Yankees from the eastern United States who
platted and developed the lands, railroaders, shippers,
loggers, entrepreneurs, and other settlers. Four flags have flown over the area around Ashland from colonial to contemporary times: Spanish, French, English and American. The area was part of the United States'
Northwest Territory. This region was divided into four successive territories for administration before becoming part of the state of Wisconsin:
Indiana Territory,
Michigan Territory,
Illinois Territory, and
Wisconsin Territory. About the time
Christopher Columbus arrived in the
New World in the late 15th century, the
Ojibwe people came to the land they called . This term has been translated numerous ways: , and where . Each is descriptive and suitably accurate. The Ojibwe stayed on Chequamegon Point for nearly a century before leaving. They settled first on
Madeline Island and then moved to the
Sault Ste. Marie region. French fur traders
Pierre d'Esprit, le Sieur Radisson and
Medard Chouart, le Sieur des Groseilliers were the first Europeans of record to visit Chequamegon Bay. They arrived in 1659 and built what has been called the first European dwelling place in what is now Wisconsin. A historical marker noting this is located at Maslowski Beach on
US 2 on the west end of Ashland. The monument was erected in 1929 by the Old Settlers Club. The Ojibwe heartily welcomed the Frenchmen. Five years later, Father
Claude-Jean Allouez arrived. A
Jesuit missionary, he brought the first word of Christianity to Wisconsin's shores. Allouez built a chapel not far from the stockade erected by Radisson and Groseillier; he worked and lived at the Bay until 1669.
Settlement in 2007, before its demolition. In 1854, Ohioans
Asaph Whittlesey and George Kilborn set out from
La Pointe to explore the head of Chequamegon Bay. Whittlesey built a × cabin in Ashland. His wife, Lucy, and daughter, Eugenia, joined him in August and prepared to winter in their new home. Signs of settlement soon began to take place. The first community dance was held at their house. The Reverend L. H. Wheeler preached the first sermon on the first
Independence Day that was observed there. This village was the location of the first post office and polling place for county offices.
Sunday school was also conducted on the premises. The
Milwaukee, Lakeshore and Western Railroad platted the city in 1885, as railroad construction moved westward. Local landowner Martin Beaser named the settlement Ashland after Kentucky statesman
Henry Clay’s residence. Previous names for the area included Bay City, Saint Mark (for
Saint Mark's Basilica), and Whittlesey, the latter in honor of initial postmaster Adolph Whittlesey. In the nineteenth century, immigrants to the area included many individuals and families from Germany and northern Europe, as shown by the numerous Lutheran churches in town. Some were initially attracted to agriculture or jobs in the mining industry.
Tar and feather attacks during World War I During the last year of
World War I, from March–October 1918, six recorded incidents of
vigilantism took place in the Ashland area, committed
against men of German descent, who were suspected of pro-German sympathies. In Ashland mobs of masked men abducted individuals at night from their homes, driving each to secluded areas where the men were
tarred and feathered. A group identifying as the
Knights of Liberty claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying in a letter to a local paper, "We have no purpose to do injustice to any man, but we do feel that any treasonable and
seditious acts, or utterances, demand prompt punishment. These cases must not be allowed to run indefinitely, without anything being done. We want action and we want it now." Victims included: • Professor E. A. Schimler, abducted, tarred and feathered on March 31, 1918. Born in Germany, Schimler taught French at local
Northland College. He was unable to identify any of his assailants. • Bartender Adolph Anton, taken from his home on April 9, and stripped, tarred and feathered for his suspected "pro-Germanism". Anton claimed to recognize two of the men, Ephraim Gay and George Buchanan, who were arrested, pleaded not guilty, and released on their own recognizance. A municipal judge dismissed the cases at the preliminary hearing in July. Anton left Ashland, moving to
Gary, Indiana. • William Landraint, 62, was seized in front of a downtown hotel by a mob of fifty men who put a bag over his head, handcuffed him, and drove him to the country, where he was tarred and feathered. Of German birth, Landraint was a deputy tax assessor who had been forced out of his job because of prejudice and suspected disloyalty. Despite dozens of witnesses to the kidnapping by unmasked men, none claimed to know any of the participants. Landraint later asked for police protection after receiving a threatening letter. He soon left town for
St. Paul, Minnesota. • In early June 1918 Emil Kunze went to Ashland police headquarters to report hearing men outside his home conspiring to tar and feather him for his alleged pro-Germanism. He asked for permission to sleep in the jail. He later quit his truck driving job and left town. • In early July 1918 farmer Martin Johnson of nearby
Sweden, Wisconsin, was visited at his home by men asking assistance in locating a nearby fishing stream. Once away from the house, they drove Johnson to a secluded area, and stripped, tarred and feathered him. • On October 25, 1918, John Oestrycher, a farmer living eight miles outside Ashland, was tarred and feathered for not buying
Liberty Bonds and for being "pro-German". Governor
Emanuel Philipp expressed his indignation over these incidents, as well as reports of local ethnic Germans receiving threatening letters. He directed state Attorney General Spencer Haven to launch an inquiry. His investigator found the local citizenry uncooperative, including
John C. Chapple, editor of the
Ashland Daily Press and campaign manager for
Roy P. Wilcox, a Republican candidate for governor proclaiming his own patriotism. The inquiry found the community generally satisfied with the treatment of the first victims. Haven expressed frustration at the local court, which refused to adjourn to allow the securing of evidence, and at the district attorney, who dismissed the first two cases for lack of said evidence. Haven threatened to send a company of the state guard to maintain law and order in the area. Ultimately no one was convicted for any of the attacks. Two months after the world war ended, newspapers reported that the local Knights of Liberty had disbanded. The
Milwaukee Journal reported that more than 800 men in Ashland County belonged to the order.
Dates of note • 1856 — First
plat of Ashland registered • 1870 — First Ashland
brownstone quarried and shipped • 1872 — First
sawmill built by W.R. Sutherland • 1872 —
The Ashland Weekly Press is founded by
Sam Fifield. It became a daily paper more than a decade later. The first issue of the
Ashland Daily Press was March 5, 1888. • 1874 — First brewery built,
Ashland Brewing Company • 1877 —
Wisconsin Central Railroad connected Ashland to
Chicago • 1877 — Chequamegon Hotel opened, one block from current hotel • 1887 —
State legislature incorporated the City of Ashland • 1889 — Wisconsin Central Depot constructed • 1892 — Northern Wisconsin Academy opened (later known as
Northland College) • 1892 —
Ashland Post Office built • 1904 — Ashland High School opened • 1918 – During the last year of the war, at least six men were individually attacked by vigilante groups acting against ethnic Germans • 1929 — First airport opened • 1940 —
WATW radio went on the air • 1970 — Establishment of the
Apostle Islands National Lakeshore • 1972 — Memorial Medical Center opened • 1979 — The
Union Depot is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places. • 1984 — The
West Second Street Historic District is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places. Second Street was later renamed Main Street. • 1998 —
Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center is built • 2009 — Ore dock slated for demolition. Attempts by community members to preserve the historic structure were not successful. • 2014 — The
Chapple and MacArthur Avenues Residential Historic District is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places. • 2016 — New fire hall dedicated, replacing the historic, century-old Ellis Fire Station. • 2016 — From July 11 until August, Ashland suffered one of the worst storm seasons in its history. Highways going to
Ironwood and
Marengo were severely damaged, as were portions of infrastructure at
Saxon Harbor. Residents reported flooding of many basements by lake and rain waters. Three deaths were reported.
Ore dock The harbor of Ashland was dominated by the massive
Wisconsin Central Railway (later
Soo Line)
ore dock, built in 1916 to load iron ore mined in the area into freighters bound for industrial ports in the Midwest, such as
Ashtabula, Ohio, where steel was produced. The last of what had once been many such docks, the concrete structure was high and wide. In 1925 the dock was extended to ; it was last used to ship ore in 1965. In 2007 the
Wisconsin Trust for Historic Preservation named it one of the "10 most endangered historic buildings in Wisconsin", a list intended to stir preservation efforts. A structural inspection completed in 2006 and 2007 concluded that the ore dock had become structurally unsafe and was an imminent safety hazard. On May 14, 2009, the Ashland Planning Commission granted
Canadian National Railway approval for demolition of the dock. All material on the ore dock was removed, down to the concrete base. This was completed in 2013. The base of the ore dock remains. The city took ownership of it from Canadian National Railway in May 2014. It is working with a consultant group to design a redevelopment plan for the base of the dock. == Geography ==