Plum City, WI

Plum City is a Pierce County village whose story begins with the people who moved through the western Wisconsin valleys before the streets were laid out. French and American Indian fur traders settled here in 1857, and Frank Moser and Stephen K. Gates platted the village that same year. Plum Creek and the surrounding valleys supplied the name, thanks to the abundance of plum trees along the water. The village's small-town map still follows that early relationship between creek, road, and settlement.

Education gives Plum City much of its everyday shape. The village has a public elementary school, middle school, and high school, along with a Catholic grade school. Local teams compete as the Blue Devils in volleyball, softball, and baseball, making school sports part of the community's regular calendar. The 2020 census counted 596 residents. Plum City is the kind of place where a creek name, a school mascot, and a short founding story still tell you most of what you need to know about how the village holds together.