Downsville, WI

Downsville is an unincorporated census-designated place in Dunn, located within Dunn County, Wisconsin, United States, where Highway 25 crosses the Red Cedar River. The 2020 census counted 188, residents. The community was founded in 1855. Around that time, Ebenezer Thompson tried to dam the Red Cedar, but his half-built dam was destroyed by a flood. A newcomer can read Downsville through the overlap of its older landmarks, surrounding geography, and current places. For a newcomer, Downsville comes into focus through those concrete links among its past, landscape, and current routines. In 1857 Captain Downs tried again and succeeded in building a dam which powered a sawmill.