Merrill, Wisconsin - A Brief History
Merrill City Hall and Library, 1910 ca.
Merrill's City Hall and Library. View the original source document: WHI 39356
Merrill is located in Lincoln County on the banks of the Wisconsin River approximately 20 miles north of Wausau. The site of vast forests, by 1843, a trading post and one home, that of John Faely, had been built.
Although known as Jenny Bull Falls throughout much of the mid-to-late 19th century, the community changed its name to Merrill in the 1881 in honor of the general manager of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, S.S. Merrill (1818-1885).
A center of the lumber industry in Wisconsin during the 1800s, by the turn of the 20th century, Merrill was a prosperous and thriving community. In 1890, electric streetcars were placed in operation, one of the first such installations in the world.
Merrill was also the home of the famed American radio commentator, Hans von Kaltenborn (1878-1965).
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Source: WHS Library-Archives Staff, 2009