Editing Holway, Wisconsin

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox settlement
|official_name   = Holway, Wisconsin
|settlement_type = [[Town]]

<!-- Images -->
|image_skyline = Holway Town Hall.jpg
|imagesize     = 
|image_caption = Town hall

<!-- Maps -->
|image_map    = WIMap-doton-Holway.png
|mapsize      = 250x200px
|map_caption  =Location of Holway, Wisconsin
|image_map1   = 
|mapsize1     = 
|map_caption1 =

<!-- Location -->
|subdivision_type  = [[List of sovereign states|Country]]
|subdivision_name  = {{flag|United States}}
|subdivision_type1 = [[U.S. state|State]]
|subdivision_name1 = {{flag|Wisconsin}}
|subdivision_type2 = [[List of counties in Wisconsin|County]]
|subdivision_name2 = [[Taylor County, Wisconsin|Taylor]]

<!-- Government -->
|government_footnotes = 
|government_type      = 
|leader_title         = 
|leader_name          = 
|leader_title1        = 
|leader_name1         = 
|established_title    = 
|established_date     =

<!-- Area -->
|unit_pref        = Imperial
|area_footnotes   =
|area_magnitude   = 
|area_total_km2   = 94.2
|area_land_km2    = 94.2
|area_water_km2   = 0.0
|area_total_sq_mi = 36.4
|area_land_sq_mi  = 36.4
|area_water_sq_mi = 0.0

<!-- Population -->
|population_as_of         = [[United States Census, 2000|2000]]
|population_footnotes     = 
|population_total         = 854
|population_density_km2   = 9.1
|population_density_sq_mi = 23.5

<!-- General information -->
|timezone                 = [[North American Central Time Zone|Central (CST)]]
|utc_offset               = -6
|timezone_DST             = CDT
|utc_offset_DST           = -5
|elevation_footnotes      = <ref name="GR3">{{cite web|url=http://geonames.usgs.gov|accessdate=January 31, 2008|title=US Board on Geographic Names|publisher=[[United States Geological Survey]]|date=October 25, 2007}}</ref>
|elevation_m              = 407
|elevation_ft             = 1335
|coordinates              = {{coord|45|4|51|N|90|29|35|W|region:US-WI|display=inline,title}}
|postal_code_type         = 
|postal_code              = 
|area_code                = [[Area codes 715 and 534|715 & 534]] 
|blank_name               = [[Federal Information Processing Standard|FIPS code]]
|blank_info               = 55-35525<ref name="GR2">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|accessdate=January 31, 2008|title=U.S. Census website}}</ref>
|blank1_name              = [[Geographic Names Information System|GNIS]] feature ID
|blank1_info              = 1583406<ref name="GR3" />
|blank2_name              = [[Public Land Survey System|PLSS]] township
|blank2_info              = T30N R1W}}

'''Holway''' is a town in [[Taylor County, Wisconsin]], United States. The population was 854 at the 2000 census.

==Geography==
[[File:Farms in Holway Wisconsin.jpg|230px|thumb|left]]
According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], the town has a total area of 36.4&nbsp;square miles (94.2&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>), of which, 36.3&nbsp;square&nbsp;miles (94.1&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) of it is land and 0.03% is water. The surface is fairly level, not reached by the [[Wisconsin glaciation|last glacier]] which bulldozed the [[Taylor_County,_Wisconsin#Geography|Perkinstown terminal moraine]] to the north.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Attig|first=John W.|title=Geologic Map and Cross Sections of Taylor County, Wisconsin|journal=Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey|date=1993|issue=Bulletin 90|url=https://wgnhs.wisc.edu/pubshare/B090-plate01.pdf|access-date=November 26, 2023}}</ref> The soil of most of Holway is considered to be Merrill till.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Attig|first=John W.|title=Pleistocene Geology of Taylor County, Wisconsin|journal=Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey|year=1993|volume=Bulletin 90|url=https://wgnhs.wisc.edu/catalog/publication/000114|pages=6-8|access-date=November 26, 2023}}</ref>

==History==
The six mile (10&nbsp;km) square that would become Holway was first [[Surveying|surveyed]] in the summer of 1847 by a crew working for the U.S. government. Then in 1854 another crew marked all the [[Section (United States land surveying)|section corners]] in the [[survey township|township]], walking through the woods and swamps, measuring with [[Gunter's chain|chain]] and [[Solar compass|compass]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Land Survey Information|url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/SurveyNotes/SurveyInfo.html|publisher=Board of Commissioners of Public Lands|accessdate=May 31, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Field Notes for T30N R1W|url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/SurveyNotes/SurveyNotes-idx?type=PLSS&twp=T030NR001W|work=Original Field Notes and Plat Maps, 1833-1866|publisher=Board of Commissioners of Public Lands|accessdate=May 31, 2011}}</ref> When done, the deputy surveyor filed this general description:
<blockquote>''The Surface of this Township is generally level the dry land is but very little elevated above the Swamps the Soil is poor 3rd rate bearing but little vegetation but is generally covered with a thick heavy moss. The Timber is principally [[Tsuga canadensis|Hemlock]] & [[Betula alleghaniensis|Birch]] with a few Scattering trees of [[Eastern White Pine|White Pine]] of poor quality. The Township is well watered by numerous Small Streams of good pure water. There are no Settlers in the Township.''<ref>{{cite web|last=Daugherty|first=William E|title=Interior Field Notes (May 1854)|url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/SurveyNotes/SurveyNotes-idx?type=article&byte=1438761&twp=T030NR001W|publisher=Board of Commissioners of Public Lands|accessdate=3 June 2011}}</ref></blockquote>

At the formation of Taylor County in 1875, the six-mile square that would become Holway was part of the original town of Little Black, which spanned the width of the county from east to west.<ref name=Ruesch>{{cite book|last=Ruesch|first=H.O.|editor-last=Kalmon|editor-first=Lars|title=Taylor County Historical Sketch|date=January 2012|publisher=Taylor County History Project|page=8}}</ref> An 1880 map of central Wisconsin shows no roads in the six-mile square, but two roads of some sort reach the east edge - one from [[Stetsonville, Wisconsin|Stetsonville]] and one from the community of Little Black. The map also shows a farm in section 29, labelled A.E. Sawyer.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dahl|first=Ole Rasmussen|title=Map of Chippewa, Price & Taylor Counties and the northern part of Clark County|year=1880|publisher=The Milwaukee Litho & Engr Co.|location=Milwaukee, Wisconsin|url=http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/maps/id/1046/rec/3|access-date=November 26, 2023}}</ref> Sawyer ran a logging firm in [[Black River Falls]].<ref>{{cite news|title=A.E. Sawyer, Prominent Lumberman Here, Started First Brownsville Yards|url=https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Newspaper/BA2879|access-date=November 26, 2023|agency=La Crosse Tribune & Leader-Press|date=May 13, 1934}}</ref>

The town of Holway was split off in 1895. It was first named Pine-lake, then changed to Holway,<ref name=Ruesch/> 
for Nymphus B. Holway, a wealthy lumberman from Maine.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Callary|first1=Edward|title=Place Names of Wisconsin|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|location=Madison, WI|isbn=978-0-299-30964-0|page=123|year=2016}}</ref>

A map from 1900 shows lots of settlement activity. The grid of roads was fairly complete for the easternmost two miles. A wagon road followed the course of modern Elm Avenue all the way across the town. Another road, a forerunner of Apple Avenue, reached across to within a mile and a half of the west end. Settlers' homesteads were started in along these roads. Two rural schools and a church were shown on Apple Ave. Two more rural schools were probably (that part of the map is blurry) shown along Elm. It appears there were also two sawmills in the south of the town. Holway's Dam was marked on Trappers Creek in section 15. The west end was still held in larger chunks, with few settlers. There J.M. Holway owned the most land by far. Sawyer and Austin still held a chunk and the [[Wisconsin Central Railroad (1871–1899)|Wisconsin Central Railroad]] held a few parcels in the odd-numbered sections,<ref name=1900_map>{{cite book|last=Queary|first=O.K.|title=Map of Taylor County, Wisconsin|date=1900|publisher=Bogk & Rowland|location=Milwaukee, Wis.|url=https://content.wisconsinhistory.org/digital/collection/maps/id/1568|access-date=November 26, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Wisconsin Atlas and Gazetteer|date=1999|publisher=DeLorme|location=Yarmouth, Maine|page=74|edition=6th}}</ref> remnants of its payment for building the railroad line up through the wilderness and creating Medford and Stetsonville in the early 1870s.<ref>{{cite book|last=Rusch|first=Robert P.|editor-last=Kalmon|editor-first=Lars|title=Our Home - Taylor County Wisconsin - volume 2|date=September 22, 2013|publisher=Taylor County History Project|pages=3-4|chapter=The Twelve Railroads of Taylor County, Wisconsin}}</ref>

The 1911 plat map shows thicker settlers, and some extension of the roads beyond the 1900 map. A sawmill is at Holway's dam. The west end still has few settlers, with N.B. Holway and Benson & Anderton the largest land-owners. [[William_H._Upham#Postbellum_career|Upham Manufacturing]] of Marshfield owns a smaller chunk.<ref>{{cite book|last=Paetzold|first=C.H.|title=Map of Taylor County|date=1911|publisher=C. Paetzold and Koehler Land Company|location=Medford, Wis.|url=https://content.wisconsinhistory.org/digital/collection/maps/id/20290|access-date=November 26, 2023|chapter=Plat map of T30N R1W}}</ref>

[[Amish]] families began to arrive in Holway in 1921 - initially from Kansas, but then other places. In those first years they bought cut-over land for $30 per acre from J.S. Owen and cleared it. These are Old Order Amish who refer to themselves as Curtiss Colony, which is centered in Holway. As of 1974, this colony was divided into several church districts.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Tylka|first1=Rebecca|last2=Shiffler|first2=Ronald L.|editor-last=Kalmon|editor-first=Lars|title=Our Home - Taylor County Wisconsin - volume 2|date=September 22, 2013|publisher=Taylor County History Project|pages=5-6|chapter=The Amish People and their Faith: Taylor County, Wisconsin}} Paper written in 1974.</ref>

==Demographics==
As of the [[census]]<ref name="GR2" /> of 2000, there were 854 people, 263 households, and 213 families residing in the town. The [[population density]] was 23.5 people per square mile (9.1/km<sup>2</sup>). There were 284 housing units at an average density of 7.8 per square mile (3.0/km<sup>2</sup>). The racial makeup of the town was 99.77% [[White (U.S. Census)|White]], 0.12% [[Native American (U.S. Census)|Native American]], and 0.12% from two or more races. [[Hispanic (U.S. Census)|Hispanic]] or [[Latino (U.S. Census)|Latino]] of any race were 0.12% of the population.

There were 263 households, out of which 42.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 67.7% were [[Marriage|married couples]] living together, 6.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 19.0% were non-families. 16.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.25 and the average family size was 3.71.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 32.4% under the age of 18, 10.9% from 18 to 24, 30.7% from 25 to 44, 17.3% from 45 to 64, and 8.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females, there were 106.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 106.8 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $37,500, and the median income for a family was $44,464. Males had a median income of $27,333 versus $23,472 for females. The [[per capita income]] for the town was $13,718. About 14.9% of families and 20.8% of the population were below the [[poverty line]], including 23.3% of those under age 18 and 25.0% of those age 65 or over.

==References==
<references />
{{Taylor County, Wisconsin}}

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[[Category:Towns in Taylor County, Wisconsin]]
[[Category:Towns in Wisconsin]]