Port Washington - A Brief Overview

Map of Wisconsin, indicating major cities and geography in the region around Port Washington, Wisconsin.

I would like to start with a description and background historical information about the community of Port Washington, context that is important for understanding the riot that will take place there in 1862. The Potawatomi were residents of the area that would become Port Washington. Beginning in the 1830s, they became displaced into surrounding regions, although some groups remained. Wisconsin became a territory in 1836 and then a state in 1848. Settler population increased over 2,500% between 1836 and 1850. Port Washington was established as a Euro-American settlement in 1835. It is nestled in the valley formed by Sauk Creek, a small tributary on the west side of Lake Michigan. Port Washington is situated about midway between the larger settlements of Milwaukee and Sheboygan. Port Washington was incorporated a township in 1846 with about seventy-five residents.

Map of Port Washington, Milwaukee and Sheboygan.png

Map depicting the location of Port Washington, along Lake Michigan in relation to the major cities of Milwaukee and Sheboygan.

Steamboats came and left Port Washington two to three times daily in the mid-1800s delivering passengers and shipping merchandise. Accidents occasionally occurred, such as that of the steamboat Niagara in 1856, which caught fire four miles south of the pier on an August afternoon. About half of the two hundred passengers were rescued by other ships responding to the fire. A propeller ship The Toledo capsized when the anchor chain became entangled about 100 yards from the pier. Only two of the eighty persons on board were rescued. Agriculture became the primary economic activity in the Port Washington area, accompanied by a grist mill, machine shops, brickyards, and breweries. There were three lumber yards, the largest of which produced three to four million feet of lumber annually and employed an average of thirty laborers. The other two lumber yards each produced about two million feet of lumber annually. Other industries included a planning mill, tannery, two marble yards, a hardware store, warehouses, cheese makers, wagon, blacksmith and cooper shops. Fishing for trout, whitefish, and perch was also a part of the local industry.