Early history Before logging, the area that would become Hayward was a forest of pine and hardwoods cut by rivers and lakes. In later years
Ojibwe people dominated the area along with much of northern Wisconsin. They were part of what is known as the Anishinaabe group, which consists of Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and Ottawa tribes. They traveled on an over 500 year journey to this region from what is now known as Newfoundland. The Anishinaabe people held intense spiritual connections with the land they lived on known as "place making". The land was significant as it guided their identities and traditions. Their journey here was guided by a series of prophecies that explained the "chosen ground" would be one in which food grows on water. When they arrived they lived off the resources provided by the lakes in these areas through fishing, hunting, and gathering wild rice known as Manoomin or the "Food the Grows on Water". In 1745, a group of Ojibwe people, known as Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, settled near Hayward, WI, until the 1837
Treaty of St. Peters, when they ceded it to the U.S. Along with the Homestead Act of 1862. Logging along the Namekagon River had begun by 1864, when government surveyors noted that T. Mackey had a logging camp on the river at what would become Hayward. In the winter of 1878 Anthony Judson Hayward walked up on the ice, assessed mill sites and timber possibilities upstream, and decided to build a lumber mill. Until 1880 the spot was connected to the outside world only by river or logging tote roads, but in that year the
Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway built its tracks through, connecting it to the
Twin Cities and
Chicago, and making Anthony Hayward's
sawmill plan much more lucrative. He found financial backing and a partner in Robert Laird McCormick and managed to buy the last parcels of land for his sawmill in 1881. The damming had significant effects on the Ojibwe families living here. 5,600 acres of reservation land were flooded. Much of this land consisted of rice beds, cemeteries, and villages, disrupting the homes, traditional food gathering practices, and resting places of many. "“There were bodies floating out of the Flowage for years afterward,” said Patty Loew, a retired journalism professor who has written several books on the history of tribes and is a citizen of the Mashkiiziibii, also known as the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians." That same year the village of Hayward was platted In the surrounding country, settlers were beginning to wrest little farms out of the stump-lands cut off by the loggers. In 1896 it was reported that 432 bushels of corn were produced in Sawyer County, 610 bushels of barley, 14,516 bushels of oats, 380 bushels of rye, 1,125 tons of hay, 12,417 tons of potatoes, 3,065 bushels of non-potato root crops, and 6,500 pounds of butter. The same summary noted that dairy farming was rapidly increasing in the area. and traditional food gathering practices were also hindered during the "spearfishing wars", where the federal court allowed Ojibwe people to maintain the right to fish off the reservation at night during spawning season. This resulted in a negative response from the surrounding community who feared a decrease in fish population and therefore a decrease in tourism. A radio station called WOJB used its platform to highlight perspectives from both sides of the conflict and promoting unity through music.
Hayward Indian Residential School In 1901, the
Hayward Indian Residential School was established in Hayward. It was founded to assimilate indigenous children into white Christian American culture. Most of the students were
Ojibwe and came from the
Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation ten miles away from the school. The school operated until 1934, when it closed due to being understaffed, underfunded, and overcrowded. During its operation, thousands of students passed through the school. Some were taken forcibly from their families. At the school, children were forced to take on Christian names, cut their hair, wear military style uniforms, and march in military formations. The curriculum focused on English language, Christian religion, and industrial labor. Provision of teachers was so poor that few students graduated, and graduation certificates were withheld from students who were thought likely to return to their reservations instead of assimilating into white society. The school was funded in part by the government and in part by the labor of the children in agriculture and sewing. Male children cleared over 260 acres for cultivation. Girls were trained as housewives and lived in the "Homestead Cottage", where a female teacher taught them how to run a household. The girls sold their sewing products to support the school and prepared meals for the other students. In the first decade of the school's operation, girls were encouraged to practice Native beadwork styles, but by 1910, this had been discontinued. Students also died from epidemics of measles and pneumonia. Due to the poor conditions and harsh discipline, runaways were common; in 1920 alone, 69 children ran away from the school. The school closed in 1934 and was converted to the Hayward Area Memorial Hospital. ==Geography==