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HISTORY OF DUNN COUNTY
Webster, 1875-78; Samuel Omdahl, 1879; Daniel Harshman, 1880; D. W. Waite,
1881-90; H. Webster, 1891-92; William Parker, 1893-94; L. W. Morris, 1895-96;
Daniel W. Waite, 1897-1908; W. A. Harding, 1909-10; A. T. Thompson, 1911-14
and W. A. Harding, 1915.
As already mentioned when the court house burned at Dunnville in 1858 the
records of the county for the first few years of its history were destroyed. The new
book of records (proceedings of the county board) that was started after the fire
shows the names of five towns namely; Eau Galle, Spring Brook, Rock Creek, Dunn
and Menomonie, into which the county was then politically divided. It was from
these towns, or some of them, that the others were subsequently set off. In this
process there were very few fragmentary changes, or transferences of a few sections
from one town to another, so common in the early history of some counties; when
a new town was set off its boundaries were in almost every instance made to cor-
respond with the government townships and ranges.
The first new town mentioned on the earliest record book now existing was that
of Peru, which was organized on March 5, 1859, being set off from the town of Rock
Creek. This-the smallest town in the county-had for its north and west bound-
aries the Chippewa River, and hence to that ex'C :lt was, and is, irregular in outline.
The town of Red Cedar was organized Dec. 5, 1860, and included in addition to
the present town of Red Cedar the towns of Wilson, Sand Creek, Otter Creek,
Grant, Tainter and Colfax.
An entry in the county board records in August, 1861, shows that the towns of
Dunn County were at th.; time associated for government purposes with Dallas
County, or, practically, that territory that is now Barron County. The name
Dallas County appears regularly in the assessment tables on the county board
records for some seven or eight years, being first omitted in the tax table recorded
in November, 1869.
The next town organized after Red Cedar was Weston, which was set off from
Eau Galle with the same territory as at present.
The town of Lucas was next set off, from Menomonie, with its present territory.
Elk Mound was next set off from Spring Brook, on Dec. 30, 1865, with the same
territory as it has today.
The town of New H1aven was set off from the town of Menomonie on Dec. 10,
1866, it&: territory being defined as "all of townships 29, 30 and 31 of range 14,"
which int'ludes what are now the towns of New Haven, Tiffany and Stanton.
The town of Grant was next organized, being set off from the town of Red
Cedar on Dec. 26, 1866. Its territory included what are now the towns of Grant,
Sand Creek, Wilson and Otter Creek.
The town of Sherman was set off from the town of Menomonie on Nov. 13, 1867
and included the present towns of Sherman and Hay River.
The town of Sheridan was set off on Nov. 13, 1867, its territory being defined as
township 31 of range 13, or what it is today. The records do not say from what
town it was taken.
The town of Colfax was set off from Red Cedar on Dec. 28, 1868, and contained
the present towns of Colfax and Tainter.
The town of Tainter was set off Jan. 25, 1869, from the towns of Colfax and Red
Cedar, the part taken from Red Cedar being Sections 5 and 6 and the north half
of Sections 7 and 8, which included, or was, the site of the village of Cedar Falls.
The town of Stanton was the next town created, Nov. 15, 1870, frcm the town
of New Haven, and included what is now the town of Stanton and the south half
of what is now the town of Tiffany.
The town of Tiffany seems to have been organized between November, 1873 and
November, 1874, as it appears as a separate town in the tax tables recorded in the
latter month and year but not in the former. The present editor could find no
record of the exact date of its organization. It probably was given the territory
which it now has, as none seems to have been taken from it or added to it sub-
sequently.
The town of Sand Creek, with the territory it has today, was set off and organized
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