|
Port Washington is the county seat of Ozaukee County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The city is about 25 miles north of Milwaukee and 110 miles north of Chicago. The population was 11,250 at the 2010 census. The city was named for its natural port, and in honor of first President George Washington. Port Washington contains a post office with the ZIP code of 53074. ==History== The area that became Port Washington was originally inhabited by the Sauk tribe of Native Americans, and later explored by the French in the late 17th century. In 1835, General Wooster Harrison became the town's first permanent settler, in what he originally named "Wisconsin City." Harrison later renamed the town "Washington".〔Sister M. Jane Frances Price, S.S.N.S., ''The History of Port Washington, in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin'' (Ph.D. diss., De Paul University, 1943), pp. 7-8.〕 Harrison's wife, Rhoda, was the first white settler to be buried in the town, when she died in 1837.〔Price, p. 11〕 Around 1843 the name was changed to "Sauk Washington". The town of Port Washington was formed in January 1846 and until 1847 included the surrounding areas and what is currently Fredonia, Saukville, and Belgium.〔Price, p. 20〕 The City of Port Washington was incorporated with its present name in 1882. With a natural harbor at the mouth of Sauk Creek, the city became a port on Lake Michigan. The city exported cord wood, wheat and rye flour, bricks, and fish and hides, among other things.〔Price, p. 31〕 In 1843, the first Christian religious services were held by the Methodist Episcopal Church in private homes. The first Catholic Church services were held in a similar manner in 1847.〔Price, pp. 32-33〕 ''The Washington Democrat'', the town's first newspaper, was started in 1847 by Flavius J. Mills.〔Price, p. 33.〕 The population reached 2,500 in 1853 and continued to increase, with an influx of immigrants from Germany and Luxembourg between 1853 and 1865.〔Price, p. 35.〕 The United States Congress passed a military conscription law in late 1862, and Wisconsites were drafted to fight in the Civil War. Yet immigrants were not often keen to fight, and Germans and Luxembourgers in Port Washington protested the draft. In November 1862, they burned draft records and vandalized the homes of prominent Port Washington Republicans (the political party of President Lincoln). In 1870, the city saw major improvements in transportation. Not only was the railroad approved to extend through Ozaukee County, the harbor was substantially improved.〔Price, p. 57.〕 The dredging that occurred resulted in the first man-made harbor in North America.〔Port Washington Chamber of Commerce 2008-2009 Visitor Guide〕 J. M. Bostwick was instrumental in the opening of the Wisconsin Chair Company in September 1888, the success of which allowed the town to flourish.〔Price, p. 59.〕 The Gilson Manufacturing Company started making garden tractors and tractor lawn mowers in 1894 and soon became the second-largest business, after the Wisconsin Chair Factory.〔Price, p. 60.〕 In 1896, Delos and Herbert Smith brought their commercial fishing business to Port Washington as that harbor afforded them the use of a steam powered fish tug. There, the Smith family would call Port Washington home to their family business. Smith Bros., as it was called, grew to a fleet of fishing tugs, fish wholesale, whitefish caviar, burbot oil, fish retail (markets), restaurants, and a hotel.〔(Smith Bros. Family History )〕 From 1910 through 1935, Port Washington was the home of Paramount Records and other associated record labels. In 1940, the population was 4,046; 4,754 in 1950. The Port Washington power plant operated by Wisconsin Electric Power Company, now known as We Energies was established in the area. In 1943 the company stated that the Port Washington Plant was "the most efficient steam power plant in the world."〔Price, p. 65.〕 The coal-fired plant received shipments of coal primarily by lake boat from its beginnings in 1935 until 2004 when the coal-fired boilers were taken out of service. The plant has since been converted to generate electricity from natural gas. The end of coal shipments also ended the use of Port Washington as a commercial port. The harbor is now used almost exclusively by recreational boaters. Port Washington has the largest collection of pre-Civil War buildings in Wisconsin, several of which are on the National Register of Historic Places.〔http://wistravel.com/cities_in_wisconsin/port_washington_wisconsin/〕 The Port Washington Visitor Center is itself in the historic Edward Dodge House, also known as the "Pebble House." The three-story brick courthouse was built in 1854 and originally served as jail, housing for the jailer, county offices and courtrooms.〔Price, p. 40.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Port Washington, Wisconsin」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|