Editing Thiensville, Wisconsin (section)

==History==
In the early 19th century, the [[Potawatomi]] lived on the west bank of the [[Milwaukee River]] and had a village in present-day Thiensville, located on Pigeon Creek, north of Freistadt Road. They surrendered their land to the United States federal government through the [[1833 Treaty of Chicago]], which was ratified in 1835 and required them to leave the area by 1838.<ref>{{cite web|title=Early history of Ozaukee County, Wisconsin|url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/WI/WI-idx?type=article&did=WI.OzEarlyHist.i0034&id=WI.OzEarlyHist&isize=M|publisher=University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries|access-date=January 3, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1 = Gerwing |first1 = Anselm J. |title = The Chicago Indian Treaty of 1833 |journal = Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society |date =Summer 1964 |volume = 57 |issue = 2 |pages = 117–142 |jstor = 40190019 |issn = 0019-2287 }}</ref>

The first permanent white settlers arrived in the mid-1830s from New York, England, and Ireland. One of the first settlers was John Weston, who settled near present-day Thiensville in 1837 and served as the first postmaster of the Town of Mequon. The first [[Germans]] arrived in 1839, and in the 1840s Germans became the largest ethnic group in Thiensville, the Town of Mequon, and Ozaukee County.<ref>{{cite web|title=Early history of Ozaukee County, Wisconsin|url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/WI/WI-idx?type=div&did=WI.OzEarlyHist.i0034&isize=M|publisher=University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries|access-date=January 3, 2020}}</ref>

Joachim Heinrich Thien moved to the area in 1842 from [[Oldenburg in Holstein|Oldenburg]], [[Prussia]], and helped design a plan for the settlement that would become Thiensville. A year later he employed a group of Native American laborers to construct a dam and a canal on the Milwaukee River. He then built a sawmill and a store. Thien hosted the first town meeting for the Town of Mequon in 1846,<ref name="corrigan">Walter D. Corrigan, ''History of the Town of Mequon, Ozaukee County, Wisconsin, Brought Down to about 1870''. Mequon: Mequon Club, 1950.</ref> and in 1857 he established the volunteer fire department and served as its first captain.

Thien was a [[Freethought|freethinker]], as were many of the early German settlers. The influence of the freethinker societies kept formal churches out of the village until 1919, when St. Cecilia Catholic Church was built.<ref name="Encyclopedia">{{cite web|title=Encyclopedia of Milwaukee: Village of Thiensville|url=https://emke.uwm.edu/entry/village-of-thiensville/|publisher=University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee|access-date=January 3, 2020}}</ref>

Thiensville grew in part because of its location on the [[Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad|Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway]], which was constructed in the early 1870s. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Thiensville was one of the most concentrated communities in the Town of Mequon. While most of Mequon was quite rural, Theinsville functioned as a downtown area with stores, mills, and professional services. The Village of Theinsville incorporated in 1910 with a population of 289.<ref>[http://www.mtchamber.org/visitors.cfm?id=4] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090726090449/http://www.mtchamber.org/visitors.cfm?id=4|date=July 26, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.co.ozaukee.wi.us/history/ThiensvilleVillageHall&FD.htm |title=Ozaukee County, Wisconsin - History - Thiensville Village Hall & Fire Department |publisher=Co.ozaukee.wi.us |access-date=January 17, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120926135703/http://www.co.ozaukee.wi.us/history/ThiensvilleVillageHall%26FD.htm |archive-date=September 26, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1945, eighty German [[prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] from Camp Fredonia in [[Little Kohler, Wisconsin]] were contracted to work at the Herbert A. Nieman Canning Company in the village to make up for the loss of labor due to local men fighting in [[World War II]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zD-kby0LiuEC&pg=PA123|title=Stalag Wisconsin: Inside WW II Prisoner-of-war Camps|last=Cowley|first=Betty|date=January 1, 2002|publisher=Badger Books Inc.|isbn=9781878569837|pages=120–25|language=en}}</ref> German prisoners from Camp Rockfield in [[Rockfield, Wisconsin]], (located in present-day [[Germantown, Wisconsin|Germantown]]) also worked at the Fromm Bros., Nieman & Co. Fox Ranch in northern Mequon.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zD-kby0LiuEC&pg=PA123|title=Stalag Wisconsin: Inside WW II Prisoner-of-war Camps|last=Cowley|first=Betty|date=January 1, 2002|publisher=Badger Books Inc.|isbn=9781878569837|pages=227–31|language=en}}</ref>

In the 20th century, Mequon and the village of Theinsville developed a close relationship,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ci.mequon.wi.us/econdev/page/city-mequon-and-village-thiensville-community-gateway-features|title=City of Mequon and Village of Thiensville Community Gateway Features {{!}} Mequon Wisconsin|website=www.ci.mequon.wi.us|access-date=November 9, 2019}}</ref> with a shared school district,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mtsd.k12.wi.us/|title=Mequon-Thiensville School District {{!}} The Launchpad to Success|website=www.mtsd.k12.wi.us|language=en-US|access-date=November 9, 2019}}</ref> chamber of commerce,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mtchamber.org|title=Mequon-Thiensville Chamber of Commerce|access-date=April 13, 2020}}</ref> and library.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.flwlib.org/|title=Frank L. Weyenberg Library of Mequon-Thiensville {{!}} Official Website|website=www.flwlib.org|access-date=November 9, 2019}}</ref> The communities merged their fire and emergency medical response services to form the Southern Ozaukee Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department on January 1, 2023.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sofdwi.gov/|title=Southern Ozaukee Fire Department|website=sofdwi.gov|access-date=September 13, 2023}}</ref>