Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Harrison. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1899Wausau sheet · 1:125,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Harrison.
The story so far
Harrison, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Harrison yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
The Town of Harrison is located in the northeastern corner of Marathon County, Wisconsin, United States. It is part of the Wausau, Wisconsin Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 312. The unincorporated community of Snell is located in the town. The unincorporated community of Hogarty is also located partially in the town.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 374 to 312 (-17%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Harrison in 1913
Passages that mention Harrison, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Marathon County, Wisconsin1913 · page 571Read the page →
Read the text
Harrison was set off as a separate town December 20, 1888, from portions of the towns of Easton and Texas; its present territory embraces only township 30, range 10 east. It organized in the spring of 1889, and J. C. Hogarthy was elected as its first chairman. Hogarthy was one of the first native Americans in Marathon county to go farming and remained on his fann until his death after 1900, only doing some occasional logging on the Eau Claire river near or on his land. Like all other lands this township was heavily timbered, and all of the pine was floated down to the three mills
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Marathon County, Wisconsin1913 · page 89Read the page →
Read the text
afterwards Mr. Lyman Thayer taught school in a room in the store building of Lyman on Forest street west of the present city hall site. These were the earliest schools in Wausau; a little later there was a small schoolhouse on Harrison boulevard, facing Forest street in the east. They were all temporary, but years expired until the first schoolhouse was built. The bulk of the town was still on Clarks Island, on Shingle street, and Main and Jackson streets with a few scattering buildings further north, but there was no semblance of any street except Shingle street.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Harrison, 1899 to 1913
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
