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Town Farmington

Source: Washington County, Wisconsin : past and present; by Quickert, Carl, ed
Publication date : 1912
Publisher Chicago : S.J. Clarke Publishing Co.

On February 11, 1847, The Legislature proceeded to prune the town of West Bend and declare the northeastern portion a new township with the name of Clarence. In the year following this name was changed to Farmington - a fitting appellation, for farming is the occupation of most every inhabitant.

The first settlers were Amasa P. Curtis and Elijah Westover, both of whom took up land on Oct. 14, 1845. November 22, of the same year, William Smith became their neighbor. When the year slipped away, the wilderness had not attracted any more than these lonely three.

More pioneers came in the following year, and the names of Wescott, Schwinn, Bolton, Detmering and others appear in the records - names that are interwoven with the days of old and ring true to this very day.

About two months after the creation of the town,, on April 6, 1847, the first town meeting and the election of officers were held in the home of Thomas Bailey. Thirty-five votes were cast. Fifteen dollars were allowed for schools. At a special meeting on Oct. 2, 1847, it was decided to levy taxes to the amount of $200 to build a bridge across the Milwaukee river. Soon afterwards the project was dropped. It was thought too much of a burden for most of the settlers who had little or no means beyond what they needed to sustain life. Still they managed to build a log schoolhouse in the same fall and called it the "Washington Union School."

In the same year a Methodist minister held the first service in the log shanty of Sylvester Danforth. The Methodists organized the first congregation in the town.

The first sawmill was built by Delos Wescott on Stony creek. The first physician was the aforesaid Sylvester Danforth. The first log house was built by Jonathan Danforth who was the first postmaster.

In 1859 the German Methodists followed their English brethren in founding a congregation. The first church built was that of the St. Peter's Catholic congregation which with forty-two members was organized in 1846.

In 1859 the St. John's Catholic congregation was formed.

In 1861 the German Evangelicals united in St. Martin's congregation, and two years later they built a church.

In 1857 a number of German lovers of ideality founded the Farmington Humanitaetsverin with A. W. Demuth as president, Fitz Huebner as secretary, and Wilhelm Kletzsch as treasurer. The society flourished for many years and possessed a library of about 400 German volumes.

In 1862 the Farmington Turnverein was organized.