Marathon City, WI

Marathon City is a Marathon County village that began with the Pittsburgh German Homestead Society’s 1856 plan to settle Wisconsin land. The first colonists arrived in 1857, shops and a Catholic church followed, and Henry Fricke’s gristmill on the Rib River helped the village take shape. Marathon City incorporated separately from the surrounding town in 1884; the railroad arrived in 1891, and Menzner Lumber has operated here since 1894. St. Mary’s red-brick twin steeples still mark the hillside. Marathon City is a Wisconsin village with German roots, river mills, rail, and a long lumber story.