Joseph G. Lawton, early Wisconsin settler, entrepreneur, and developer, was instrumental in encouraging settlement and industrial growth in the Green Bay area. With his wife, children, and other family members, Lawton moved from his native Pennsylvania to De Pere in 1851, where he settled permanently with the exception of three years spent in Pennsylvania.
Lawton's business activities in Brown County were numerous and varied. In 1853 he organized the Fox River Bank in Green Bay, and was also a co-founder of the Fox and Wisconsin Improvement Company. About this time, Lawton formed the De Pere Company to develop the town plat of De Pere, as well as water power from the Fox River. His other ventures throughout his life included building a wing dam and canal on the west side of the river; a stave factory, smelting furnace, and flax factory in De Pere; and a bridge and sash and door factory in West De Pere. Joseph Lawton's activities after 1865 are less well documented, and he retired from business in 1881.
