History
The first person to settle in the area was Joseph Gardenier, who built a log shanty on Cedar Creek, in what is now Hamilton. The shanty was his headquarters for surveying for the construction of the Green Bay Road. Frederick August Leuning, who immigrated to the area in 1843, built a cabin near Cedar Creek on what was later the east end of the city. He called the cabin "Cedarburg", which meant "the castle of the Cedars". Soon afterwards, he built the Columbia Mill on that site.
In 1845, Frederick Hilgen and William Schroeder founded the village of Cedarburg. A year earlier, they had built a gristmill on Cedar Creek. After eleven years of operation, they replaced the original structure with the five-story, stone Cedarburg Mill. This became the focal point of the new community. Five dams and mills were eventually built along the creek in what are now the city and town of Cedarburg. The Hilgen Spring Park, begun in 1854, was a 74-acre (300,000 m2) resort, that attracted visitors from all over the Midwest.
The Cedarburg Woolen Mill, was founded in 1864, and by 1893 it was the largest woolen mill west of Philadelphia. In 1897 a generator was installed, producing the first electricity in the town. In 1901, the city contracted an electric plant with steam engines running two 75 kW generators, and in 1909 the Cedarburg Electric Light Commission was formed to run the utility. In 1923, responsibility for water and sewerage was given to the utility, and it was renamed the Light & Water Commission. The utility is still in business today, and is one of 82 municipally owned electric utilities in Wisconsin.
In September 2008, Senator John McCain started his presidential campaign in downtown Cedarburg the day after he accepted the nomination at the Republican National Convention. Law enforcement officials estimated 20,000 to 30,000 people were present for his speech.
Read more about this topic: Cedarburg, Wisconsin
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