ALHN York Township, Clark County, Wisconsin

The history of the Township begins in the late 1840s when the land in Clark County was surveyed into townships. The establishment of the Principal Meridian between what is now York and Fremont was the first surveying done in the county and was done in 1846. In 1847, the Towns of York (Town 25), Loyal (Town 26), Weston, Eaton, and Warner were divided and surveyed. Section lines were run much later.

A crew of surveyors and helpers with ox teams cut a path through the trees and brush and established township markers. The surveying into sections was done later about the 1870s into the 1880s. After John Kintzele arrived in 1883, he surveyed much of York and Fremont and the Village of Granton. This was into sections and quarter sections and the streets of Granton.

Most of the northern part of York was the property of the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers Improvement Company given in 1853 and filed in Clark County in 1857. These lands were mortgaged to build the canal of Portage for $500,000 to Isaac Seymour and William J. Averill, financiers of New York City. On the death of the partners, Abraham Clark was the sole surviving heir. The area involved was 21 sections and parts of 10 others. Foreclosures on the land took place in 1864, but were not recorded until 1918. These were filed in several counties, Outagamie, Fond du Lac and Clark --- over 5,000 acres in this area. The land titles were finally cleared by an act of the State Legislature in 1918.

Part of the area was sold to the Green Bay and Mississippi Canal Company in 1866. The pine lumber on it was sold to the Davis and Starr Lumber Company. Before this, Romadka Manufacturing Company, in 1883 and later, purchased some of it as well as other loggers and smaller operators.

The name for the newly organized Township 25 was to become "York," probably because so many of the early settlers were natives of New York State. These included the Davises, Downers, Lees, Holmes and others.

Source: The Centennial History of the York Center United Methodist Church (1880 - 1980) and the Town of York (1857 - 1980), page 53.