Star Prairie, WI

Star Prairie is a St. Croix County town that includes the Village of Star Prairie on its eastern edge, along with the hamlets of Huntingdon and Johannesburg. The town was created in 1856 and grew through a mix of German, Norwegian, Irish, French, English, and Polish settlement. The Apple River cuts diagonally across the town, passing Cedar Lake, Squaw Lake, and older mill sites. That water shaped work as much as scenery: flour mills, cheese making, feed mills, dams, fishing spots, and small gathering places all grew along the river and its side waters.

Different corners of Star Prairie still carry their own local landmarks. Huntingdon's mill operated from 1854 to 1949 and supplied flour during World War I; Johannesburg grew around a school, icehouse, cheese factory, feed mill, and a grocery store and gas station that became the Outpost Bar and Grill. One hydroelectric dam remains in operation on the Apple River, while old farmsteads and former schoolhouses mark the agricultural side of the town. The village's name came from a remark about stars over the prairie, but the larger town is best read through its river, lakes, farm roads, and small settlements.