Cecil, WI

Cecil is a Shawano County village on the east shore of Shawano Lake. The 2020 census counted 529 residents. The community began as the Head of the Lake around 1849, when logging shaped the local economy and Wisconsin pine was floated across Shawano Lake and down the Wolf River to Oshkosh. Ice harvesting followed, with ice cut at Cecil Bay shipped as far away as Milwaukee. When the railroad arrived in 1884, the settlement took the name Cecil after railroad man Cecil Leavitt.

The lake still sets the pace. Cecil is the only village on Shawano Lake, and boating, fishing, golf, camping, and lakeside dining all connect the village to the water. Winter brings snowmobile trails, ice racing, and ice fishing, giving the community a second season instead of letting the shoreline disappear when summer ends. The railroad and logging years trace the village's beginning, but today's Cecil is easier to picture as a small lakeshore community with a year-round calendar built around water, woods, and the roads leading into Shawano County.