Founding of Langlade County and Antigo

Squire Taylor (1806-1902) had logging
and lumber operations on the Wolf and Lily Rivers. He is credited with the founding of New (later renamed Langlade) County.

Langlade County, originally named New County, was founded by Squire A. Taylor in 1879. It was named in honor of Sieur Charles De Langlade, heralded as the first citizen of Wisconsin who settled near Green Bay. It was created out of part of Marathon County. Census data of 1880 indicate a county population of 685. Borders were disputed and revised but finalized by the early 1880’s. Most political power lay in the lumber towns along the Wolf River, but an election in 1881 resulted in Antigo’s becoming the county seat. Langlade County’s dense, virgin forests were scouted by an influx of timber estimators, lumbermen, prospectors, and homestead seekers after the Civil War. The Old Military road was the only clearing among the towering basswood, maple, birch, and elm.

At the time of early settlement the native Indians in the area were generally friendly. At the time of Antigo’s founding, Indian relations were peaceful. The two major tribes were Ojibwe and Menominee. Settlers traded with the natives and often married young Indians maidens. The first white settler in the county was W. L. Ackley, who erected a small cabin on the banks of the Eau Claire River in the 1850’s.

Today much of Langlade County is an agricultural region with dairying production and potato cultivation, while logging is still a major industry. But perhaps its greatest claim is as the “Gateway to the North,” a land welcoming travelers anxious to fish its glistening lakes and streams and track game through its primeval forests.

The first crude shacks built here by settlers spotted the vast forest area. The pioneer cabins were often separated by miles of forest, except in a few areas where two or three families would group together. They located their sites near rivers, lakes and rich soils where vast amounts of lumber were available. Once started, these homes took only a few days to erect, and the family could move out from their temporary tent.

The first log cabins in upper Wisconsin were stopping places along the Lake Superior Trail and Military Road. Fishers, hunters, and land speculators frequented these resorts roughly constructed, yet very comfortable and cheerful. The early homes of upper Wisconsin are basically similar: log structures with minimum openings, lean-to additions, and wood shake or scooped roofs. They were built as the most efficient means of providing shelter in an area where wood resources were prevalent. They served their purposes well; to shelter the family from weather conditions.

After the logs were placed into position, the roof was constructed; gabled roofs were generally covered with wooden shingles, and pantile roofs (overlapped tiles) usually consisted of hollowed out basswood. The cracks were filled with moss, sticks, mud, and later, with lime. Blue clay mud could be found in nearby creek beds, and mixed with moss and sticks it would adhere to the logs. Later, limestone was burned in a kiln, and this lime was mixed with sand and water to produce a firm plaster which performed much better than the blue mud which began to fall out when it dried.

Doors and windows were usually made with green oak timber, filling the holes axed out of the log walls. After saw mills began making rough sawn lumber available, doors, windows, and flooring were constructed with sawn boards. Roof shakes were sawed from blocks of wood about two feet long from straight grained oak logs. A drawshare was then used to make them smooth to lie tight over the log rafters.

Niels Anderson’s store was Antigo’s second cabin, also built in 1879.
It served as a general store, post office, and hotel.

In the 1870s Francis Deleglise was a timber cruiser who surveyed the forests in the Antigo Flats and saw an area that was flat, with rich soils sweeping for miles; perfect for farming.

“After due consideration of all the whys and wherefores, while in Appleton in the Summer of 1876, I mapped the present plan of Antigo and determined upon it as the point for the Upper Eau Claire Valley.” (Van Goethem, 1979)

From 1876 to 1880, Deleglise spent every daylight hour locating settlers, laying out roads, and planning his village. He brought his family to Antigo in March, 1878, where they found shelter in a small scooped roofed shack with neither door nor window. In May of the same year, Deleglise built the present log cabin with the help of several early settlers. Eight children were born to these pioneering parents, yet only five survived.

The settlement was originally named “Springbrook”, likely derived from the Ojibwe phrase “niibi-aamijiwan-ziibiing”, which in turn seems to be derived from “mookijiwan-ziibiwishenh”, which means “little spring-river”. This became the name of the river that runs through Antigo, and lives on in the name of Ma-Ka-Ja-Wan Scout Reservation. The name Antigo comes from another Ojibwe phrase, “niibin-inaandagoog-ziibiing”, meaning “summer balsam firs by the river”. If you say the word “inaandagoog” enough, with enough different accents, eventually you can see how the settlers eventually got “Antigo” out of it.

Deleglise’s efforts soon turned from surveying to real estate, dividing up lots and donating sites to industrial development, churches, and business interests. He was able to convince saw mill owners to relocate to his new settlement and recruit newspaper publishers and retailers to the area. Arguably his greatest contribution was to convince the Milwaukee Lake Shore, and Western Railroad to come through Antigo in its northward expansion. The Chicago and Northwestern took over the Milwaukee, Lake Shore and Western and made Antigo its division headquarters, triggering the growth of Antigo.

By 1886 Antigo had grown from a population of a few dozen to 2,500; and by 1893 the population had reached 5,000. It was incorporated as a city in 1885. Deleglise was elected to the Assembly in 1892, served as Town Chairman, and was the first County Treasurer. His brilliant legislative career demonstrated his intelligence and concern for the welfare of the citizens whom he represented.

5th Avenue, Antigo's main east-west road, was originally a path between Deleglise's cabin and Willard Ackley's cabin to the west.