Central Wisconsin Part 11 and Bonus Entry: Plainfield- The Nightmare before Christmas
Willard
Population: 539
Willard is an unincorporated community located in the town of Hendren, Clark County.
Trivia:
The post office at Willard, and in turn the settlement itself, was named after Willard Foster (1876–1945), the youngest son of Nathaniel Caldwell Foster (1834–1923). Foster established the Foster Lumber Company in Fairchild, Wisconsin, and the company founded Willard in 1911.
Wisconsin Rapids
Population: 54362
Wisconsin Rapids is a city in and the county seat of Wood County.
Trivia:
The American Indians called the area "Ahdawagam", meaning "Two-sided Rapids". Although Europeans began to settle this area in the 1830s, Wisconsin Rapids has been known by this name only since 1920. Prior to that, the community was divided by the Wisconsin River, with the west side incorporated as Centralia and the east side as Grand Rapids. The two cities merged in 1900, with the entire community taking the name Grand Rapids. The name was changed in 1920 to avoid mail and other goods from being misdirected to the much better known Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Withee
Population: 487
Withee is a village in Clark County.
Trivia:
Withee was founded in 1870 and named after Niram Withee, a Maine schoolteacher and Wisconsin politician. It became an incorporated village in 1901, and was the principal shipping point for D.J. Spaulding Mills through the Soo Line Railroad.
Wittenberg
Population: 1081
Wittenberg is a village in Shawano County.
Trivia:
The village was named after Wittenberg in Germany.
Bonus Entry: Plainfield- The Nightmare before Christmas
On the morning of November 16, 1957, Plainfield hardware store owner Bernice Worden disappeared. A Plainfield resident reported that the hardware store's truck had been driven out from the rear of the building at around 9:30 a.m. The hardware store saw few customers the entire day; some area residents believed this was because of deer hunting season. Bernice Worden's son, Deputy Sheriff Frank Worden, entered the store around 5:00 p.m. to find the store's cash register open and blood stains on the floor.
Thus began one of the most bizarre criminal events in Wisconsin and American history.
Plainfield is a village in Waushara County. The village is located almost entirely within the Town of Plainfield. A tiny portion extends into the adjacent Town of Oasis. The population was 897 at the 2010 census. It is also the former hometown of Edward Theodore Gein, ghoul, cannibal and murderer.
Ed Gein, inspiration for the classic horror movies Psycho, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Silence of the Lambs, lived in the lonely farmhouse, for years after his mother died. His deeds, which I wont go into here, earned him a place in a very exclusive cadre of serial killers.
Gein property circa 1957
His house was "mysteriously" burned to the ground, years ago.
Gein spent the rest of his adult life in a mental facility, and died in 1984. His grave marker was stolen, and never recovered. He remained one of Wisconsin's most notorious citizen's...until Jeffrey Dahmer came along.
If you'd like to recreate Plainfield, see my map-
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