Civil Divisions of Chippewa County New Auburn, Chippewa County, WI

New Auburn, in Chippewa County, was originally named Cartwright's Mills. Then it became simply Cartwright. Then it became New Auburn, a name it still holds to this day. David W. Cartwright David W. Cartwright was the man who laid the first foundation for the village of New Auburn. After he published a book he started construction of a steam sawmill in New Auburn with his son. Before all this he served in the Civil War. David W. Cartwright left his farm in southern Wisconsin and moved to a farm in the town of Lafayette, were he lived for ten years. He loved to hunt, and it was on one of his hunting trips that he found the site for his sawmill. When Mr. Cartwright and his son started their mill, the town of Auburn was only two years old. After opening two hundred acres of land, the Cartwrights lived in a tent while working on the foundation and the housing of the machinery for the mill. They cut the trees around them to clear the place. The building slowly progressed and the foundation was completed and was ready for the machinery when it arrived. The first board cut was sawed in November of 1875. Mr. Cartwright became the engineer of this newly completed steam sawmill. David J. Cartwright became the general manager and Leonard Van Estian was the sawyer. The mill was known as Cartwright Mills and the town that grew up around it was called Cartwright. This town eventually changed its name to Auburn, which was then changed to New Auburn. Which is currently the town�s name. When the snow fell the logs were brought in fast, from some of those logs the company built two log houses as soon as they could. One of those houses was for Mr. Cartwright and the other was for Mr. Van Estian. In 1878, Mr. Cartwright sold his interest in the mill to Charles M. Tarr. Business at the mill continued and the company�s name stayed as Cartwright and Company. Mr. Cartwright returned to his home in southern Wisconsin, were he died on November 6, 1899. New Auburn Centennial Historical Album Contributed by Rosemarie Novak