“Worcester is a log station on the Wisconsin Central Railway. It has a
general store and a post office, with a daily mail. J. A. Carlson is the
postmaster. During the construction of the railway this point was the
terminus for about a year. It then contained several stores, and was an
active business center in a small way. As the road was extended toward
completion, the settlers abandoned the place, taking with them everything
moveable. Considerable land in close proximity to this center has since been
taken up by Swedish settlers and utilized for agricultural purposes.
Cranberry Lake is three miles northwest of this station.”
From the
Historical and Biographical Album
of the Chippewa Valley, Wisconsin, 1891-92.
"In 1874 Worcester,
or station "101" as it was better known because of its distance from Stevens
Point, became the headquarters for lumbermen's supplies for the mills in
operation along the Flambeau and Chippewa waters. The first men to do
lumbering in that region were Eph. Hackett and Charles Hewett of La Crosse
who, in June 1872, located on what is now called Hackett's farm on the Dora
Flambeau. A tote-road was built during the summer to Kinett's Road and in the
fall a crew was sent from Eau Claire to build a camp and begin operations.
For the first two winters all the supplies were toted from Eau Claire, but in
the summer of 1873, after a road was cut through to "101" by the Wisconsin
Central railroad, supplies were brought from Phillips."
From the Crop
Reporting Service Bulletin, Price County, Wisconsin, Wisconsin County
Histories 1952-54
The Town of Worcester was formed February 26, 1879 and was one of the
original towns in Price County established by legislature. It was 300 square
miles with the Wisconsin Central Railroad running diagonally through it. It
had numerous lakes including Elk Lake and Long Lake. The south fork of the
Flambeau River ran through the town and the Big Elk River flowed into Elk
Lake in Phillips.
Numerous railroad stations were located in the Town
of Worcester. Station 101 (Worcester) was as far north as the Wisconsin
Central Railroad had run in 1873 but building resumed in 1876 moving the
tracks further and further north. As the railroad moved north, other stations
sprang up including Coolidge, Wauboo and Phillips. The Wauboo station was on
a side track built only to serve as a base station to bring in logging camp
supplies.
Phillips, established on the banks of Elk Lake, was platted
on September 23, 1876. It soon became the headquarters for logging camp
supplies and for the first ten years the primary business in the settlement
of Phillips was for logging.
According to the 2000 U.S. Census
Bureau, the Town of Worchester has a total area of 121.0 square miles
(313.4 km²) of which 117.3 square miles (303.8 km²) of it is land and
3.7 square miles (9.6 km²) of it (3.06%) is water.
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