Editing Three Lakes, Wisconsin (section)

==History==

Three Lakes, Wisconsin was named for the three lakes the Milwaukee, Lake Shore and Western Railway encountered while developing a new route due north to Watersmeet, Michigan and then west to Ashland, Wisconsin:<ref>{{cite web |title=Heritage and History |url=https://townofthreelakes.com/heritage-and-history/ |website=Town of Three Lakes |publisher=Town of Three Lakes |access-date=November 22, 2021}}</ref> The railway route diverted slightly west around the three lakes which were named Maple, Townline, and Range Line lakes. It formally became a town in 1881.

The early industry in the town was logging and forestry. Three Lakes and the rest of the Northwoods supplied wood to build Chicago after the [[Great Chicago Fire]] of 1871. During that time, most of the area's [[Old-growth forest|virgin forests]] were cleared and it was only in the 1930s that a process began to replant them. As a result of these replanting efforts, logging and forestry continue to be an important industry in Three Lakes.

As the logging industry moved out of the area, many of the cleared areas were converted to potato farms and agriculture became the community's primary industry through the early 1900s. However, over time these family potato farms were replaced by larger corporate commercial enterprises, which are no longer in production.

Three Lakes began growing as a tourist and summer vacation destination in the late 1930s. The increasing availability of automobiles, combined with the roads that existed from the logging industry, made the lakes and forests of the Three Lakes area an attractive vacation destination. Tourism was the primary industry in Three Lakes beginning in the 1970s and continues to be today.

The town also has light manufacturing, a winery, an arts center and numerous retail businesses that have diversified its economy. The town has made substantial investments in developing high speed Internet and broadband capabilities.<ref>{{cite web|title=Try Three Lakes - Heritage and History|url=http://trythreelakes.com/visit/three-lakes-wi/|accessdate=October 1, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120709011733/http://trythreelakes.com/visit/three-lakes-wi/|archive-date=July 9, 2012|url-status=usurped}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Three Lakes Historical Society - History of Three Lakes|url=http://www.threelakeshistory.org/History_of_Three_Lakes.html|accessdate=August 15, 2012}}</ref>