A Short History of Edgar

The Village of Edgar is located about fifteen miles west of the City of Wausau in the central part of the State of Wisconsin. In 1889, the Milwaukee Lake Shore and Western Railroad Company staked out a railroad to be built between Wausau and Marshfield. The railroad company owned most of the land in this area at that time. The forest through which this railroad was built was very dense timber of every description. In the midst of this forest, about 17 miles west of Wausau was a little stream called Scotch Creek. One of the men employed at setting stakes for the railroad, spoke of his opinion "that this spot would be a nice place to start a little village". "It would be near the railroad and about halfway between two large cities." The rest agreed with him and immediately called the place Edgar in honor of him for suggesting the plan. It took until July 25, 1881, for the first surveyor to map out Edgar. This was completed at the request of Alfred Carey, the owner of the land that Edgar now occupies. Like many of the small villages of Wisconsin, Edgar began mostly as a lumber company. The trees were abundant and the stream and railroad made it the perfect spot to start a sawmill. As the years went by, more people would start to arrive at this small village and soon hotels, brickyards, hardware stores, shops, schools, and churches sprung up. By 1898, the year the village officially became incorporated, the population was 346. Within fifteen years the population would explode to 1,000.

A few pictures from books compiled by Ben Straub Photo, Edgar, in the 1960's and 1970's are available for on-line viewing. Complete copies of Edgar's pictorial history as compiled by Ben Straub are kept in the reference section at the Edgar Branch of the Marathon County Library. For a more complete history of Edgar, the library has copies of the Edgar Centennial History Book 1898-1998 which can be checked out.

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