Door County Basics

Long before European settlement, eight different Indigenous groups made their homes on the peninsula.  Nomadic paleo-hunter-gatherers first made use of the resources of the peninsula after the retreat of the last glaciation.  

About 2000 years ago indigenous people settled here permanently.  They raised crops, hunted, fished and built dwellings and manufactured tools, pottery and other implements and household effects.  Evidence of their settlements, portages and seasonal encampments persists to this day.  Indigenous nations that called the peninsula home included the Potawatomi (best-known), Winnebago (Ho-Chunk), Menominee, Ojibwe, Sauk, Petun, Huron and Ottawa.  

In the 1600s French explorers and missionaries found their way here and established trade routes and temporary settlements.  They were the earliest European settlers.

The Potawatomi people and other nations were forced out of Door and neighboring counties by the federal government as a consequence of the 1830 Indian Removal Act.  This constituted a forcible relocation and was a dark and unjust stain upon the historical record.  Chief Simon Onanquisse Kahquados, leader of the Potawatomi and Chief Roy Oshkosh, leader of the Menominee nations were unsuccessful in their efforts to have the land returned to their people.

In the early 1830s the federal government surveyed what is now Door County to determine the value of the timber and divide it into parcels for eventual sale.

Following the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 European settlement moved further westward.  Increase Clafin, wife Mary and 6 children arrived by boat in what is now Little Sturgeon Bay in 1835.  They traded furs, farmed and raised horses.  Clafin's son-in-law Robert Stephenson dealt unfairly with the remaining Menominee people leading to violent conflicts.  Increase eventually handed everything over to Stephenson and moved north to what is now Fish Creek.  Any number of Clafin family members and descendants are buried in Peninsula State Park.

Following statehood in 1848 settlement picked-up.  About half of the county's estimated 2000 residents were squatters making a living cutting wood and shingles.  The remainder were fishermen and the largest population center was located on Washington Island. 

The oldest town in Door County is Baileys Harbor.  Captain Justice Bailey sought refuge there in a gale and upon landing reported vast timber and limestone resources.  Within a year a pier and sawmill were constructed with lumber being shipped for export.  Virtually all trade and transportation was conducted on the surrounding waters.

 

What became Carlsville was initially settled by Irish followed by a larger number of Germans.  The settlement was named for the significant number of settlers named Karl.  The name was later Anglicized. 

Ephraim was a religious settlement founded by the Reverend Andrew Iverson and three of his followers.  This community of Norwegian Moravians constructed the first church and school in the County.

Asa Thorp (not Clafin) is credited with founding Fish Creek.  Thorp constructed a dock and was the sole source of fuel for shipping between Fort Howard and Rock Island.  The village thrived with the settlement of fishermen, farmers, lumbermen and their families.  Relatives Jacob and Levi Thorp founded Egg Harbor.

By 1853 Southern Door was populated by Walloon-speaking Belgians who established the towns of Brussels and Namur.  To this day the surrounding community hosts the largest concentration of Belgians outside of Belgium.  It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

By 1870 Door County had nearly 5,000 residents and was growing as the lumber, fishing and farming economy grew.

In 1881 Charles and Maria Scofield  sold most of the peninsula to John Leathem and Thomas Smith for $33,000.  

Purchased for $200 on November 18, 1890 our 80 acres has remained continuously intact.  We are the tenth owners of record.

So much for settlement.

Stay-tuned for more.....