Merrillan, WI

Merrillan is a Jackson County village whose whole map was bent by railroads. The West Wisconsin Railroad came through in 1869 after Leander Merrill paid to bring the line to his future town, and the Green Bay & Lake Pepin Railroad reached Merrillan in 1872. Passenger service followed, a union depot took shape, and the village grew rapidly at the junction. Merrillan's name honors L. G. Merrill, but the railroad did the louder work of shaping the map: streets, hotels, depots, warehouses, and businesses all gathered around the tracks.

The village still carries that transportation history, along with a neat little power story. A hydroelectric plant began operating on a wooden dam in 1902, and a later concrete dam kept the local utility producing electricity; the plant remains part of Merrillan's energy system. Lincoln Elementary serves students through the Alma Center-Humbird-Merrillan school district, and the village sits near the junction of Highways 95, 12, and 27. Merrillan is a western Wisconsin railroad village with a depot-era business pattern, a working hydro plant, and a school and road network that keep the old junction useful.