Hamburg celebrates 150 years

As America was preparing to celebrate its 250th birthday, the Township of Hamburg celebrated its 150th on June 27, 2026.
A special lineup of events was organized to coincide with the Hamburg Fire Department’s annual Tractor Pull and centered around the Hamburg Town Hall at the corner of Schoolhouse Lane and County Hwy. A, just west of Little Chicago.
Displays of Hamburg history were set up, and various local clubs and organizations also set up displays in the Town Hall, including the Pomeranian German Club; the Berlin-Hamburg Lions Club; the Maple Grove Charter School; the Maple Grove Foundation, Inc.; the Fromm Bros. Historical Preservation Society, Inc.; the Mar-Lin VFW Post; and the Hamburg Hawks 4-H Club, in addition to local churches.
A special 4-foot-by-8-foot replica of the Levi & Delphine Farm located on 241477 Einert Creek Lane in Hamburg was also on display. This family farm was typical of the farms in Hamburg with Holstein milk cows and crops of corn, hay, and oats.
T-shirts featuring a special design that included key elements and icons of Hamburg history and community were sold in advance of the event.

The 150th anniversary celebration culminated with a dance and music by the Jerry Schmidt band and an extensive fireworks display.
The day was filled with sharing memories of days gone by and looking forward to the future of Hamburg, as well as much fun, food, and fellowship!
Hamburg history
The Town of Hamburg was created in 1876, and was populated primarily by immigrants from the Pomeranian region of Germany. According to excerpts from the “Central Wisconsin Newsletter 1876,” a committee on town organizations approved a petition of 50 residents “to divide the town of Berlin, and set off Ranges 3, 4, and 5 of Town 30 and create a new town under the name of Hamburg.” The town of Hamburg was set off from the town of Berlin effective February 10, 1876. According to an essay written by Louis Marchetti in 1976, all residents at that time were farmers, with many being approximately 60 acres in size. Many men were also loggers, using the “splendid white pine [that] stood all through the hardwood forest of that town and furnished the logs which kept several sawmills running in the town for years, and there is a good supply of white pine standing in this township yet.”
Still standing and operating today is the Maple Grove School, now known as the Maple Grove Charter School, located on the corner of County Hwy. L and Schoolhouse Lane. As described in the “Discover Marathon County’s Agricultural Heritage” publication, the Maple Grove School was built in 1904 and is a “typical rural school” that was built “to serve the growing immigrant population.” A portion of this original school currently houses the kindergarten classroom.
Maple Grove was part of the Merrill Area Public School (MAPS) District, but upon imminent closure of their beloved school, a group of residents under the direction of Peter Fromm Wade and the Maple Grove Foundation, Inc., led a petition signed by the majority of land owners and voters to detach from MAPS and attach to the School District of Athens. The petition was granted by both school districts just prior to the start of the 2020-21 school year. Expected enrollment for the fall of 2026 is 146 students. The Maple Grove Charter School continues today to be a cornerstone and source of pride for the Hamburg community.
As written in the “Discover Marathon County’s Agricultural Heritage” publication, “Located about a quarter mile west of Maple Grove School on the north side of Hwy. F” (now Hwy. L) “are some of the historic farm structures associated with one of Marathon County’s most unique agricultural enterprises, the Fromm Brothers.” Many of these structures still stand today, and tours are offered annually by the Fromm Bros. Historical Preservation Society, Inc.
The Fromm Brothers were descendants of the Nieman and Fromm families, which had immigrated to the Hamburg area from Germany during the mid-19th century. During the early 1900s, the Fromm Brothers successfully domesticated the ginseng plant.
Hamburg, for many years, was the center of the multimillion-dollar ginseng business.
“In addition to their work with ginseng, the Fromm Brothers also developed a large-scale fur business. Hamburg became known as the fox-producing capital of the world during the 1940s.” Hamburg residents are extremely proud of the thriving community that many of their descendants helped build and nurture.
The township of Hamburg remains a strong community built on the merits of faith and family, of neighbors helping neighbors, and of the caring and respect of the land and each other.