Sawyer County, Wisconsin
History
The area that is now Sawyer County was contested between the Dakota and Ojibwe peoples in the 18th century. Oral histories tell that the Ojibwes defeated the Dakotas locally in the Battle of the Horse Fly on the Upper Chippewa River in the 1790s. By this time, Lac Courte Oreilles had become the site of an Ojibwe village. Ojibwes allowed trader Michel Cadotte to build a fur-trading outpost in the area in 1800. The United States acquired the region from the Ojibwe Nation in the 1837 Treaty of St. Peters, but the Ojibwes retained the right to hunt and fish on treaty territory. Ojibwe people successfully negotiated to establish the permanent Lac Courte Oreilles Indian Reservation in the 1854 Treaty of La Pointe.
The county is named for Philetus Sawyer, a New England man who represented Wisconsin in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate in the 19th century. Logging began in the late 1850s. Loggers came from Cortland County, New York, Carroll County, New Hampshire, Orange County, Vermont, and Down East Maine in what is now Washington County, Maine and Hancock County, Maine. These were "Yankee" migrants, that is to say they were descended from the English Puritans who had settled New England during the 1600s. They were mostly members of the Congregational Church. Sawyer County was created in 1883 and organized in 1885. In the 1890s immigrants came from a variety of countries such as Germany, Norway, Poland, Ireland and Sweden.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,350 square miles (3,500 km), of which 93 square miles (240 km) (6.9%) are covered by water. It is the fifth-largest county in Wisconsin by land area.
Major highways
U.S. Highway 63
Highway 27 (Wisconsin)
Highway 40 (Wisconsin)
Highway 48 (Wisconsin)
Highway 70 (Wisconsin)
Highway 77 (Wisconsin)- Sawyer County Highway B is the busiest rural roadway on average in all of Sawyer County with a high count of 5900 vehicles daily, according to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation's average daily traffic maps for 2008.
Railroads
Buses
Airport
Sawyer County Airport (KHYR) serves the county and surrounding communities.
Adjacent counties
- Bayfield County - north
- Ashland County - northeast
- Price County - east
- Rusk County - south
- Barron County - southwest
- Washburn County - west
- Douglas County - northwest
National protected areas
Demographics
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1890 | 1,977 | — | |
| 1900 | 3,593 | 81.7% | |
| 1910 | 6,227 | 73.3% | |
| 1920 | 8,243 | 32.4% | |
| 1930 | 8,878 | 7.7% | |
| 1940 | 11,540 | 30.0% | |
| 1950 | 10,323 | −10.5% | |
| 1960 | 9,475 | −8.2% | |
| 1970 | 9,670 | 2.1% | |
| 1980 | 12,843 | 32.8% | |
| 1990 | 14,181 | 10.4% | |
| 2000 | 16,196 | 14.2% | |
| 2010 | 16,557 | 2.2% | |
| 2020 | 18,074 | 9.2% | |
| U.S. Decennial Census 1790–1960 1900–1990 1990–2000 2010 2020 | |||
2020 census
As of the census of 2020, the population was 18,074. The population density was 14.4 people per square mile (5.6 people/km). There were 15,966 housing units at an average density of 12.7 units per square mile (4.9 units/km). The racial makeup of the county was 77.0% White, 16.3% Native American, 0.6% African American, 0.3% Asian, 0.6% from other races, and 5.2% from two or more races. Ethnically, the population was 2.0% Hispanic or Latino of any race.
2000 census
As of the census of 2000, 16,196 people, 6,640 households, and 4,581 families resided in the county. The population density was 13 people per square mile (5.0 people/km). The 13,722 housing units had an average density of 11 units per square mile (4.2 units/km). The racial makeup of the county was 81.72% White, 0.31% African American, 16.07% Native American, 0.30% Asian, 0.37% from other races, and 1.23% from two or more races. About 0.90% of the population were Hispanics or Latinos of any race. About 29.6% were of German, 7.8% Irish, 6.7% Norwegian, 5.9% Polish, 5.2% Swedish, and 5.2% English ancestry; 95.4% spoke English, 2.0% Ojibwa and 1.1% Spanish as their first language.
Of the 6,640 households, 27.5% had children under 18 living with them, 54.2% were married couples living together, 10.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.0% were not families. About 26.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.7% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.39, and the average family size was 2.86.
In the county, the age distribution was 24.1% under the age of 18, 6.0% from 18 to 24, 24.6% from 25 to 44, 27.4% from 45 to 64, and 17.9% who were 65 or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 101.8 males. For every 100 females 18 and over, there were 101.0 males.
In 2017, 167 births occurred, with a general fertility rate of 74.5 births per 1000 women aged 15–44, the eighth-highest rate out of all 72 Wisconsin counties. Additionally, fewer than five induced abortions were reported as performed on women of Sawyer County residence in 2017.
Communities
City
- Hayward (county seat)
Villages
Towns
Census-designated places
- Chief Lake
- Little Round Lake
- New Post
- Reserve
- Stone Lake (partial)
Unincorporated communities
Politics
| Year | Republican | Democratic | Third party | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
| 2020 | 5,909 | 56.22% | 4,498 | 42.80% | 103 | 0.98% |
| 2016 | 5,185 | 56.75% | 3,503 | 38.34% | 449 | 4.91% |
| 2012 | 4,442 | 49.22% | 4,486 | 49.71% | 97 | 1.07% |
| 2008 | 4,199 | 46.22% | 4,765 | 52.45% | 121 | 1.33% |
| 2004 | 4,951 | 52.37% | 4,411 | 46.66% | 91 | 0.96% |
| 2000 | 3,972 | 51.14% | 3,333 | 42.91% | 462 | 5.95% |
| 1996 | 2,603 | 40.20% | 2,773 | 42.83% | 1,099 | 16.97% |
| 1992 | 2,658 | 36.09% | 2,796 | 37.96% | 1,911 | 25.95% |
| 1988 | 3,260 | 49.88% | 3,231 | 49.43% | 45 | 0.69% |
| 1984 | 3,913 | 56.14% | 2,982 | 42.78% | 75 | 1.08% |
| 1980 | 3,548 | 50.07% | 3,065 | 43.25% | 473 | 6.68% |
| 1976 | 2,720 | 46.06% | 3,055 | 51.74% | 130 | 2.20% |
| 1972 | 3,081 | 62.52% | 1,765 | 35.82% | 82 | 1.66% |
| 1968 | 2,475 | 52.17% | 1,830 | 38.58% | 439 | 9.25% |
| 1964 | 2,012 | 43.62% | 2,591 | 56.17% | 10 | 0.22% |
| 1960 | 2,699 | 53.59% | 2,325 | 46.17% | 12 | 0.24% |
| 1956 | 2,823 | 64.54% | 1,520 | 34.75% | 31 | 0.71% |
| 1952 | 3,146 | 67.02% | 1,527 | 32.53% | 21 | 0.45% |
| 1948 | 2,257 | 49.51% | 2,177 | 47.75% | 125 | 2.74% |
| 1944 | 2,421 | 55.02% | 1,947 | 44.25% | 32 | 0.73% |
| 1940 | 2,745 | 52.46% | 2,439 | 46.61% | 49 | 0.94% |
| 1936 | 1,726 | 36.47% | 2,834 | 59.88% | 173 | 3.66% |
| 1932 | 1,179 | 31.86% | 2,381 | 64.35% | 140 | 3.78% |
| 1928 | 1,882 | 61.44% | 1,129 | 36.86% | 52 | 1.70% |
| 1924 | 990 | 37.53% | 135 | 5.12% | 1,513 | 57.35% |
| 1920 | 1,668 | 79.28% | 302 | 14.35% | 134 | 6.37% |
| 1916 | 550 | 46.57% | 562 | 47.59% | 69 | 5.84% |
| 1912 | 295 | 32.45% | 432 | 47.52% | 182 | 20.02% |
| 1908 | 815 | 70.81% | 299 | 25.98% | 37 | 3.21% |
| 1904 | 782 | 75.92% | 205 | 19.90% | 43 | 4.17% |
| 1900 | 723 | 68.53% | 305 | 28.91% | 27 | 2.56% |
| 1896 | 514 | 56.30% | 369 | 40.42% | 30 | 3.29% |
| 1892 | 412 | 52.62% | 328 | 41.89% | 43 | 5.49% |
Sawyer County had a historical reputation for being a bellwether county in presidential elections, having voted for the overall national winner in every election from 1964 to 2016. Similar to other bellwether counties, this streak was broken in 2020 when the county backed Donald Trump over eventual winner Joe Biden. This is because of increasing geographic polarization in American politics, with fewer and fewer counties swinging between parties, and instead voting consistently for one party according to demographics.