Cedarburg is a city in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. Located about 20 miles (32 km) north of Milwaukee and in close proximity to Interstate 43, it is a suburban community in the Milwaukee metropolitan area. The city incorporated in 1885, and at the time of the 2020 census the population was 12,121.
Like many of Ozaukee County's cities and villages, the City of Cedarburg began as a mill town. German immigrants began building hydropowered gristmills and woolen mills along Cedar Creek in the 1840s. The community that sprang up around the mills is now downtown Cedarburg. The city was distinctly German into the early 20th century, with several Lutheran churches, a brewery, a European-style spa resort called Hilgen Spring Park, and many German cultural associations, including two Turner societies.
Cedarburg changed significantly during the period of post-World War II suburbanization. While the mills had all closed by the 1960s, the city experienced rapid population growth and the development of new commercial properties and housing subdivisions. In spite of the changes, more than 200 of Cedarburg's historic buildings have been preserved, and the city is home to eight listings on the National Register of Historic Places. The community profits from a vibrant tourist industry and hosts festivals and events throughout the year that attract visitors from other areas.
When the first settlers—many of whom were German speakers—arrived in the area, they found white cedar trees growing on the banks of Cedar Creek. Early German-American settler Frederick Leuning built a cabin near the creek's eastern bank in 1843 and referred to his home as the "Cedarburg," meaning the "cedar castle" or the "fortress of the cedars." In December 1844, the early residents agreed to name the community Cedarburg.
The earliest evidence of humans in the Cedarburg area is the Hilgen Spring Mound Site, located in the eastern part of the city of Cedarburg, near Cedar Creek. The site consists of three conical burial mounds constructed by early Woodland period Mound Builders. In 1968, archaeologists from the Milwaukee Public Museum found human burials and artifacts, including stone altars, arrowheads, and pottery shards, during an excavation of one of the mounds. Radiocarbon samples from the excavation date the mounds' construction to approximately 480 BCE, making it one of the oldest mound groups in the state.
In the early 19th century, the land was inhabited by Native Americans, including the Potawatomi and Sauk tribes. The Potawatomi surrendered the land the United States Federal Government in 1833 through the 1833 Treaty of Chicago, which (after being ratified in 1835) required them to leave Wisconsin by 1838. While many Native people moved west of the Mississippi River to Kansas, some chose to remain, and were referred to as "strolling Potawatomi" in contemporary documents because many of them were migrants who subsisted by squatting on their ancestral lands which were now owned by white settlers. Eventually the Native people who evaded forced removal gathered in northern Wisconsin, where they formed the Forest County Potawatomi Community.
The 1864 Hilgen and Wittenberg Woolen Mill, which currently houses shops, restaurants, and a winery.
The first white settlement in the Cedarburg area was a community called "New Dublin," which later became Hamilton in the town of Cedarburg. The first resident was Joseph Gardenier, who built a log shanty on Cedar Creek as his headquarters for surveying for the construction of the Green Bay Road. In 1848, Hamilton became the first stop on the stagecoach route between Milwaukee and Green Bay.
Most of Cedarburg's early settlers were German immigrants. Ludwig Wilhelm Groth is usually credited with being the first settler of Cedarburg. He purchased land from the government on October 22, 1842, and began platting the banks of Cedar Creek. In 1845, Frederick Hilgen and William Schroeder built a wooden gristmill on Cedar Creek. After eleven years of operation, they replaced the original structure with the five-story, stone Cedarburg Mill, which became the focal point of the new community. Five dams and mills were eventually built along the creek in what are now the city and town of Cedarburg, including the 1864 Hilgen and Wittenberg Woolen Mill, which was the largest woolen mill west of Philadelphia.
In 1870, the Milwaukee and Northern Railway connected Cedarburg to Milwaukee. By 1873 the rail line extended from Milwaukee to Green Bay, connecting Cedarburg and other small communities to larger markets. Cedarburg continued to grow and prosper due to its rail connections, while the surrounding communities of Hamilton, Decker Corner and Horns Corners remained more characteristically rural.
Here is a local Business that supports the community
Google Map- https://maps.app.goo.gl/8PQ5BB8cubYzxkbN6
5420 16th Place Kenosha, WI 53144
Be sure to check out this attraction too!