Whittlesey, Wisconsin

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}}

{{Infobox settlement

|official_name = Whittlesey, Wisconsin

|settlement_type = Census-designated place

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|image_skyline = Whittlesey_Wisconsin.jpg

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|pushpin_map=Wisconsin

|subdivision_type = Country

|subdivision_name = United States

|subdivision_type1 = State

|subdivision_name1 = Wisconsin

|subdivision_type2 = County

|subdivision_name2 = Taylor

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|area_total_sq_mi = 1.127

|area_land_sq_mi = 1.127

|area_water_sq_mi = 0

|population_as_of = 2010

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|population_total = 105

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|population_density_sq_mi = auto

|timezone = Central (CST)

|utc_offset = -6

|timezone_DST = CDT

|utc_offset_DST = -5

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|elevation_ft = 1476

|coordinates = {{coord|45|13|23|N|90|19|44|W|region:US-WI|display=inline,title}}

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|area_code = 715 & 534

|blank_name = GNIS feature ID

|blank_info = 1576708{{gnis|1576708}}

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Whittlesey is a census-designated place in the town of Chelsea, Taylor County, Wisconsin, United States. Its population was 105 as of the 2010 census.{{cite web|title=U.S. Census website|url=https://www.census.gov|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|accessdate=20 April 2011}}

The community of Whittlesey was started in the 1870s when the Wisconsin Central Railroad Company built its line up through the forests, heading for Ashland. The railroad placed a station seven miles north of Medford where the line touched the Little Black River. It named the station Whittlesey, probably for Asaph Whittlesey, an early state legislator from Ashland,{{cite book|last=Martin|first=Roy L.|title=History of the Wisconsin Central (Bulletin No. 54)|date=January 1941|publisher=The Railroad and Locomotive Society, Inc.|location=Baker Library, Harvard Business School|pages=41-42}} or possibly for geologist Charles Whittlesey who surveyed the area.{{cite web|title=Whittlesey|url=https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS14378|publisher=Wisconsin Historical Society|access-date=2023-10-09}}

Several sawmills operated in Whittlesey starting in the 1880s. One built a 240-foot dam across the river, producing a 12-foot head of water. Another sawmill operated a mile and a half west of town, hauling its sawn product on carts over a pole line (a track of hardwood poles) to ship from the station at Whittlesey.{{cite book|last1=Rusch|first=Robert P.|editor-last=Kalmon|editor-first=Lars|title=Our Home - Taylor County Wisconsin - Vol 2|date=January 2014|publisher=Taylor County History Project|pages=19-20|chapter=The Twelve Railroads of Taylor County, Wisconsin}} A brickyard also operated there.{{cite book|last=Rusch|first=Gordon|editor-last=Kalmon|editor-first=Lars|title=Our Home - Taylor County Wisconsin - Vol 1|date=January 2012|publisher=Taylor County History Project|pages=18-19|chapter=Taylor County Logging and Lumbering}}

A Village of Whittlesey was platted in 1892, initiated by G.W. and Emma Norton.{{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=12}} A 1913 map shows a "depot", post office, and blacksmith shop facing the railroad, with the school on the southeast side of town.{{cite book|title=Whittlesey|date=1913|publisher=Geo. A. Ogle & Co.|location=Chicago|url=https://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/US/36895/Gilman++Murat++Little+Black++Hannibal++Jump+River++Whittlesey/Taylor+County+1913/Wisconsin/|access-date=2023-10-27}} But as the timber was exhausted, the nearby sawmills closed and declined. The highway bypassed most of the town to the east. The rail line closed in 1988.{{cite web|title=Pine Line Trail|url=https://wisconsinbiketrails.com/northwest-wisconsin/pine-line-trail/|publisher=WisconsinBikeTrails.com|access-date=2023-10-09}}

As of 2023 Whittlesey is a quiet cluster of homes scattered among the trees a short drive north of Medford, with the Pine Line bike trail passing through on the old railroad right-of-way.{{cite web|title=Pine Line Trail: Westboro to Medford|url=https://wisconsinbiketrails.com/northwest-wisconsin/pine-line-trail/pine-line-trail-westboro-to-medford/|publisher=WisconsinBikeTrails.com|access-date=2023-10-09}}