Outagamie County, WI - "Northport Dense Virgin Forest"
       
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Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives
Subject: newspaper article "Northport Dense Virgin Forest"
Submitted by: county coordinator 
EMAIL: jmmarasch@aol.com
Date Submitted: 15 March 2000
       
Source: New London Press newspaper article from Bicentennial issue, undated.

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                   Northport Dense Virgin Forest
     In 1850 the area hardly looked fit for man.
         The area which was to become Northport was filled with dense virgin pine and hardwood forest inhabited only by
roving bands of Indians.
         But a lone pioneer arrived in 1850 and gave the site which was to become Northport its first name -- Stevens
Point.
         This first settler was named Mr. Stevens -- his first name is not recorded and he left the area about a year after he
arrived.  The only known fact about the man is that he was a bachelor.
         An Irishman named Patrick arrived in 1851 and built a large warehouse, which was later called a settlement house
and proved a haven for the planned influx of Irish settlers.
         When a few New Englanders arrived in the mid 1850's they platted the village and renamed it New Boston.  The name
Northport was finally agreed upon in 1856.The first church in Northport was Roman Catholic.  It was established in 1857.  A mysterious fire destroyed the building in
1861.
         Reports have been handed down concerning a shadowy figure seen running away from the church before the fire, but they
have never been substantiated.
                  The church was rebuilt in 1866.
         But the new building servived only until 1926 when it was struck by lightening and burned.
         The first school house was built in 1852.
         By the end of the 1860's Northport was a thriving community of nearlv 150 people.
         Prosperity for the village lasted until the early 1890's with the peak being during the mid-1880's.
         The decline of the timber resources and the eventual withdrawl of investors left the community without a major industry other
than agriculture.