The first settlers came to the area in 1835, including some from
Granville, New York, who gave the area its name. On January 13, 1840, the
Town of Granville was created by the
territorial legislature, encompassing a western portion of
the Town of Milwaukee. As of the 1840
census, the population of the Town of Granville was 225. Granville was settled in the late 1830s and 1840s by a group of
Pennsylvania Dutch (German) immigrants who had formerly lived in
Telford, Pennsylvania, led by Samuel Wambold. They dedicated a church building, the German Evangelical Lutheran and Reformed Church of Granville Township, on June 17, 1849. (The church is currently known as
Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church.) On May 26, 1850, pastor Wilhelm Wrede hosted a meeting of local Lutheran ministers at the church: this group later became the
Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. The area around Good Hope Road and 43rd Street was known as East Granville, and was home to the East Granville Cemetery which was started in the 1840s. The cemetery was moved by Brown Deer in 1969 to widen existing roads. The area around Mill Road and 107th Street was known as West Granville, and was home to the German Lutherans mentioned above. The area was also home to the West Granville Cemetery which was started in 1853.
Separation, annexation, and consolidation with Milwaukee The northeastern corner of the town was known as Brown Deer, and eventually became the incorporated
Village of Brown Deer on January 20, 1955, after a court battle between area residents and the city of Milwaukee (which hoped to
annex the area). The remainder was
consolidated with the City of Milwaukee after
referendums held in both jurisdictions on April 3, 1956 approved the move. However, on July 12, 1956, the Town Board of Granville passed a motion to repeal the ordinance under which the April referendum had been held, and the matter ended up in the hands of the
Wisconsin Supreme Court, which finally ruled that the consolidation had been lawfully approved and the Town of Granville had ceased to exist. The final details of which portions were to go to Milwaukee and which to Brown Deer were not finally put to rest until April 1962, with one parcel of a quarter of a square miles going to Brown Deer. ==Geography==