Editing Ozaukee County, Wisconsin (section)

===19th century===
In the early 19th century, the Native Americans living in Ozaukee County included the [[Menominee]], [[Potawatomi]], and [[Sauk people]]. There were numerous Native American villages in the county along the [[Milwaukee River]] and its tributaries. The Menominee surrendered their claims to the land east of the Milwaukee River to the United States Federal Government in 1832 through the [[Treaty of Washington, with Menominee (1831)|Treaty of Washington]]. The Potawatomi surrendered their claims to the land west of the river in 1833 through the [[1833 Treaty of Chicago]], which (after being ratified in 1835) required them to leave the area by 1838. While many Potawatomi people moved west of the Mississippi River to [[Kansas]], some chose to remain in Wisconsin, and were known as "strolling Potawatomi" because they were migrant [[Squatting|squatters]]. Eventually the Potawatomi who evaded forced removal gathered in northern Wisconsin, where they formed the [[Forest County Potawatomi Community]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Potawatomi History|url=https://www.mpm.edu/content/wirp/ICW-152|publisher=Milwaukee Public Museum|access-date=February 20, 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 whites in the area were primarily New England land speculators, who began purchasing land from the government in 1835 at the price of $1.25 per acre.<ref>{{cite web|title=History of Ozaukee County|url=https://www.co.ozaukee.wi.us/DocumentCenter/View/624/History-of-Ozaukee-County?bidId=|publisher=Ozaukee County|access-date=January 11, 2020}}</ref> One of these land speculators was Wooster Harrison, who settled the land that would become [[Port Washington, Wisconsin|Port Washington]] in 1835, which he originally named "Wisconsin City."<ref name=price>Sister M. Jane Frances Price, S.S.N.S., ''The History of Port Washington, in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin'' (Ph.D. diss., De Paul University, 1943), pp. 7-8.</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Chicago and North Western Railway Company|title=A History of the Origin of the Place Names Connected with the Chicago & North Western and Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railways|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OspBAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA115|year=1908|page=115}}</ref> At the time, the land was part of [[Washington County, Wisconsin|Washington County]], and there were proposals that Port Washington become the county seat.<ref name="ReferenceA">"History of Ozaukee County"</ref> However, Port Washington was far from the county's other early settlements, including [[Mequon, Wisconsin|Mequon]], [[Grafton (town), Wisconsin|Grafton]] and [[Germantown, Wisconsin|Germantown]]. In 1850, the Wisconsin legislature bisected Washington County into northern and southern counties, with Port Washington as the northern seat and [[Cedarburg, Wisconsin|Cedarburg]] as the southern. County residents failed to ratify the bill, and in 1853 the legislature instead bisected the county into eastern and western sections, creating Ozaukee County. Port Washington became the seat of the new county, and the Washington County seat moved to [[West Bend, Wisconsin|West Bend]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Encyclopedia of Milwaukee: Ozaukee County|url=https://emke.uwm.edu/entry/ozaukee-county/|publisher=University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee|access-date=January 11, 2020}}</ref>

In the 1840s, [[Germans|German]], [[Irish people|Irish]], and [[Luxembourgers|Luxembourger]] immigrants began settling in the county. Germans were the largest ethnic group in and 19th century Ozaukee County,<ref name="ReferenceB">"Encyclopedia of Milwaukee: Ozaukee County"</ref> with seven in eight residents being of German descent according to the 1870 census.<ref>{{cite web|title=Early history of Ozaukee County, Wisconsin|url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/WI/WI-idx?type=turn&entity=WI.OzEarlyHist.p0013&id=WI.OzEarlyHist&isize=M&pview=hide|publisher=University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries|access-date=January 11, 2020}}</ref> The earliest settlements formed around grist- and sawmills located on the county's waterways. [[Cedarburg, Wisconsin|Cedarburg]], [[Grafton, Wisconsin|Grafton]], [[Hamilton, Ozaukee County, Wisconsin|Hamilton]], [[Newburg, Wisconsin|Newburg]], [[Saukville, Wisconsin|Saukville]], and [[Thiensville, Wisconsin|Thiensville]] all had mills by end of the 1840s. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the county economy was primarily based on agriculture.<ref name="ReferenceB"/>

The beginning of the [[American Civil War]] saw some chaos in Ozaukee County. The county was one of the areas affected by Wisconsin's "Great Indian Scare" of September 1862, in which some residents panicked because of unfounded rumors of a Native American uprising in the state. The panic was exacerbated by the fact that 30,000 Wisconsinites were away, serving in the war, so residents may have felt especially vulnerable. Some residents fled their homes for Milwaukee, while others holed up in makeshift fortresses, as happened at the [[Cedarburg Mill]].<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.i0013&isize=M|publisher=University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries|access-date=January 1, 2020}}</ref> Several months after the panic, the United States Congress implemented the draft, which was unpopular among German immigrants with bad memories of mandatory conscription in their homelands.<ref>{{cite web|title=Civil War: Draft Riots (1862)|date=August 3, 2012 |url=https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS1803|publisher=Wisconsin Historical Society|access-date=January 4, 2020}}</ref> On November 10, 1862, several hundred Port Washington residents marched on the courthouse, attacked the official in charge of implementing the draft, burned draft records, and vandalized the homes of Union supporters. The riot ended when eight detachments of Union troops from Milwaukee were deployed.<ref>{{cite book | title = The Making of Milwaukee | last = Gurda | first = John | chapter = Chapter 3. Here Come the Germans, 1846–1865 | page = 97 | date = 1999 | publisher = Milwaukee County Historical Society}}</ref>

In the 1870s the [[Milwaukee and Northern Railway Company|Milwaukee & Northern Railway]] was constructed to connect Milwaukee and northern Wisconsin including Green Bay,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=the Railroad – Milwaukee & Northern Railway Historical Society|url=http://www.mnrhs.org/the-railroad/|access-date=May 6, 2021|website=www.mnrhs.org}}</ref> along its route it reached many communities in the center of the county including Thiensville, Cedarburg, Grafton and Saukville.<ref name=":0" /> Around the same time the [[Milwaukee, Lake Shore and Western Railway]] constructed its railway on the eastern edge of the county along Lake Michigan, also to connect Milwaukee and Northern Wisconsin.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|date=December 1, 2003|title=Map of the Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western Railway {{!}} Map or Atlas|url=https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Image/IM91425|access-date=May 6, 2021|website=Wisconsin Historical Society|language=en}}</ref> It reached fewer communities compared to the M&N line, only serving Port Washington.<ref name=":1" /> Regardless the railroads spurred development in Ozaukee County by providing efficient freight and passenger transportation.