Mequon site
The Families of St. Jacobs and St. JamesI
Mequon River |
Mequon, Wisconsin, USA
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Mequon, located on the western shores of Lake Michigan, is just twenty minutes north
of downtown Milwaukee. The closeness to Milwaukee offers the best of both worlds—small town charm
and the amenities of the big city. Covering nearly fifty square miles, Mequon boasts majestic lake
bluffs, stately homes, lush farmland and expansive open space.
The early settlers who came to the Mequon area in the 1830's were Yankees from New York state and
English, followed by Germans and Irish. These new settlers found a very different place from the
Mequon of today. The entire area was covered with dense forest.
The Milwaukee River, which runs through Mequon, was fast flowing, with falls and rapids and underground water courses, offering never failing-fresh-water springs. The only type of road available through the area was the Green Bay Trail, which wound its way due north and was barely passible by the settler's wagons. The word "Mequon" is said to have come from an Indian word "Miguan", which means "ladle", because the river in Mequon was shaped like an Indian ladle.
During 1839, the first of the German settlers were Saxon-Germans from Saxony, who purchased a large tract of land along North 76th Street. Then came the Pomeranian Germans, from the Prussion state of Pomerania, who bought more than 1,000 acres to the north and west of the Saxons.
In 1843 several families from the Weiskirchen area of Saarland arrived. They were Catholic and settled in the area of the present St. James.
Then 43 families, all members of a Lutheran congregation, came from Northern Germany and settled in the western
part of Mequon. They named their tiny colony, Freistadt, loosely translated as "free city". These people came in
search of religious freedom and held their initial church service that same year.
Views of the Mequon area
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| Springtime on the farm
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| The Alpine Inn
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Green Bay Avenue 1915
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This web site created 16 December 2000.