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Historical Spotlights

1836    Wisconsin became a territory.

1851    Oconto County set off from Brown County.

1879    Marinette County created from Oconto County. Two townships: Marinette and Peshtigo. Three man county board: one representative from Marinette, one from Peshtigo, and the County Clerk. Plans to build a county courthouse initiated.

1882    Florence County separated from Marinette.

1887    City of Marinette formed. Towns of Porterfield and Wausaukee set off from Marinette and Peshtigo. Peshtigo became a village. County board increased to eight members; standing committees established.

1888     Town boundaries must be established by petition of residents.

1890    Town of Amberg admitted.

1892    Town of Grover admitted. Board increased to ten members (one each from Towns of Peshtigo, Grover, Wausaukee, Amberg and Porterfield, and five from City of Marinette).

1893    Town of Coleman established.

1896    Poor Commission established as a committee of the county board.

1897    Town of Crivitz admitted.

1899    Town of Dunbar formed. County signed contract with Dr. M.D. Bird to provide medical services to indigent and prisoners in county jail.

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1900     First rules of order adopted for operation of board.

1902    Petitions received to create towns of Lake, Athelstane, Beaver, and Bay. All were admitted, except Bay (which involved land located along Green Bay in what is now the Town of Peshtigo and a portion of the City of Marinette).

1903    City of Peshtigo formed. Town of Coleman changed name to Town of Pound.

1905    Town of Stephenson established. Total board members, 20 (Peshtigo, 3; Marinette continued with 5).

1906    Workhouse established to minimize cost of boarding prisoners, transients, and drunkards.

1908     County borrowed $11,258.77 to pay indebtedness.

1909     Debt grew to $13,853,428; tax levy, $153,313.10.

1910    Debt reduced to $5,000. Formation of Town of Middle Inlet from part of Town of Wausaukee; Town of Niagara from part of Amberg. Board membership, 22.

1911    Coleman became a village. First Highway Commissioner elected. First Probation Officer appointed. 20th Judicial Circuit established, comprised of Marinette, Florence, Forest and Oconto Counties.

1913    Villages of Crivitz and Niagara incorporated. Town of Girard established.

1914    Village of Pound incorporated. Town of Pembine admitted.

1915    Town of Wagner formed from part of Town of Porterfield.

1920    Town of Silver Cliff (Rat River) established.

1923    Town of Beecher admitted. First "speed cop" hired by county board.

1924    Village of Wausaukee incorporated. Town of Girard dissolved.

1925    Conservation Committee added to the board, marking beginning of vigorous program to establish county parks and recreational facilities. Forest Protection District 5 formed, with headquarters in Wausaukee.

1927    Village of Crivitz dissolved to become part of Town of Stephenson.

1928     Marinette County entered under the Forest Crop Law.

1929     Rules outlining duties of board committees adopted.

1930     Committee formed to study ways and means of cutting expenses. Tax levy, $361,371.11. This year, as in the previous year, Marinette County participated in a joint county fair with Dickinson County, Michigan, held at the fairgrounds in Norway, Michigan.

1931    Board voted Marinette County Fair to be held at Wausaukee; appropriated $1,000 to finance it. Board authorized poor in Marinette County to cut firewood on county owned land. Supervisors reduced their per diem from $5.00 to $4.50, and cut $12,500 from the budget by means of fewer meetings, suspension of bounties on gophers, crows, foxes and wolves, and salary cuts.

1932     Board adopted motion that only married men be hired on highway crews, and only one member of a family be employed by the highway department. Protests filed with federal government in regard to importing pulpwood from Canada and other countries. Traffic force reduced from two officers to one. No salary increases.

1934     County established unemployment benefit plan. Voted to limit terms of supervisors to two years.

1935     Salary increases voted; wages of highway department restored to 1932 level. County relief plan adopted. First county service officer hired to assist veterans. Salaries of county officials increased. Second traffic officer hired. Sinking fund for new courthouse begun.

1941    Construction of new courthouse begun.

1942     New Courthouse opened. Total cost, $291,134.67, of which the county paid $150,000, and the federal government the balance.

1965, 1966     Reapportionment of county board on a one-man, one-vote basis. City of Marinette, 11 members; Towns of Beecher, Pembine and Niagara joined to provide sufficient population to be represented by one supervisor. Goodman and Dunbar, Athelstane and Amberg, Lake and Wagner joined. Village and Town of Wausaukee combined. Portion of Town of Stephenson added to Town of Middle Inlet. Villages of Pound and Coleman, and a portion of Town of Pound joined. Towns of Beaver, Grover and Porterfield combined. Remaining portions of Towns of Stephenson and Pound combined to form one district. Town of Peshtigo split into two sections, gaining one supervisor. Village of Niagara split into two districts, and City of Peshtigo reduced from three to tow supervisory districts.

1968     Traffic police and sheriff's department combined, with nine deputies.

1974    Crivitz again incorporated as a village.

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