Weyauwega, WI

Weyauwega is a Waupaca County city on the Waupaca River, about a mile and a half from the Wolf River. Menominee people lived in the area before European settlement, and the community grew around waterpower, a sawmill, a plank road to Gills Landing, and a rye mill built in 1855. The Wisconsin Central Railroad later replaced the plank-road route, tying the city to the same rail corridor that still crosses its streets. Weyauwega became a village in 1856 and a city in 1939.

The railroad remains part of the city’s practical map and its memory. Wisconsin Central tracks cross city streets at three points, and trains that stop can force traffic to detour around the northern part of town. On March 4, 1996, a freight derailment released and ignited hazardous material; about 3,155 residents were evacuated. Current traditions put the older history into regular use: Horse and Buggy Days returns each fall with a parade, period clothing, lost-arts displays, and horse rides, and the Weyauwega Public Library holds the local-history book Weyauwega Remembers.