Sawyer County, Wisconsin facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sawyer County
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North Wisconsin Lumber Company Office in Hayward, Wisconsin
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Location within the U.S. state of Wisconsin
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 Wisconsin's location within the U.S. |
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| Country |  United States |
| State |  Wisconsin |
| Founded | 1885 |
| Named for | Philetus Sawyer |
| Seat | Hayward |
| Largest city | Hayward |
| Area | |
| • Total | 1,350 sq mi (3,500 km2) |
| • Land | 1,257 sq mi (3,260 km2) |
| • Water | 93 sq mi (240 km2) 6.9% |
| Population
(2020)
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| • Total | 18,074 |
| • Estimate
(2023)
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18,552  |
| • Density | 14.4/sq mi (5.6/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC−6 (Central) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−5 (CDT) |
| Congressional district | 7th |
Sawyer County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, its population was 18,074. Its county seat is Hayward. The county partly overlaps with the reservation of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians.
Contents
History
The area that is now Sawyer County was contested between the Dakota and Ojibwe peoples in the 18th century. Oral histories tell that the Ojibwes defeated the Dakotas locally in the Battle of the Horse Fly on the Upper Chippewa River in the 1790s. By this time, Lac Courte Oreilles had become the site of an Ojibwe village. Ojibwes allowed trader Michel Cadotte to build a fur-trading outpost in the area in 1800. The United States acquired the region from the Ojibwe Nation in the 1837 Treaty of St. Peters, but the Ojibwes retained the right to hunt and fish on treaty territory. Ojibwe people successfully negotiated to establish the permanent Lac Courte Oreilles Indian Reservation in the 1854 Treaty of La Pointe.
The county is named for Philetus Sawyer, a New England man who represented Wisconsin in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate in the 19th century. Logging began in the late 1850s. Loggers came from Cortland County, New York, Carroll County, New Hampshire, Orange County, Vermont, and Down East Maine in what is now Washington County, Maine and Hancock County, Maine. These were "Yankee" migrants, that is to say they were descended from the English Puritans who had settled New England during the 1600s. They were mostly members of the Congregational Church. Sawyer County was created in 1883 and organized in 1885. In the 1890s immigrants came from a variety of countries such as Germany, Norway, Poland, Ireland and Sweden.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,350 square miles (3,500 km2), of which 93 square miles (240 km2) (6.9%) are covered by water. It is the fifth-largest county in Wisconsin by land area.
Major highways
U.S. Highway 63
Highway 27 (Wisconsin)
Highway 40 (Wisconsin)
Highway 48 (Wisconsin)
Highway 70 (Wisconsin)
Highway 77 (Wisconsin)- Sawyer County Highway B is the busiest rural roadway on average in all of Sawyer County with a high count of 5900 vehicles daily, according to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation's average daily traffic maps for 2008.
Railroads
Buses
- List of intercity bus stops in Wisconsin
Airport
Sawyer County Airport (KHYR) serves the county and surrounding communities.
Adjacent counties
- Bayfield County - north
- Ashland County - northeast
- Price County - east
- Rusk County - south
- Barron County - southwest
- Washburn County - west
- Douglas County - northwest
National protected areas
Demographics
| Historical population | |||
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| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1890 | 1,977 | — | |
| 1900 | 3,593 | 81.7% | |
| 1910 | 6,227 | 73.3% | |
| 1920 | 8,243 | 32.4% | |
| 1930 | 8,878 | 7.7% | |
| 1940 | 11,540 | 30.0% | |
| 1950 | 10,323 | −10.5% | |
| 1960 | 9,475 | −8.2% | |
| 1970 | 9,670 | 2.1% | |
| 1980 | 12,843 | 32.8% | |
| 1990 | 14,181 | 10.4% | |
| 2000 | 16,196 | 14.2% | |
| 2010 | 16,557 | 2.2% | |
| 2020 | 18,074 | 9.2% | |
| U.S. Decennial Census 1790–1960 1900–1990 1990–2000 2010 2020 |
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2020 census
As of the census of 2020, the population was 18,074. The population density was 14.4 people per square mile (5.6 people/km2). There were 15,966 housing units at an average density of 12.7 units per square mile (4.9 units/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 77.0% White, 16.3% Native American, 0.6% African American, 0.3% Asian, 0.6% from other races, and 5.2% from two or more races. Ethnically, the population was 2.0% Hispanic or Latino of any race.
Communities
City
- Hayward (county seat)
Villages
Towns
Census-designated places
- Chief Lake
- Little Round Lake
- New Post
- Reserve
- Stone Lake (partial)
Unincorporated communities
See also
In Spanish: Condado de Sawyer para niños
