Historic Cedarburg
Near Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Cedarburg owes its life to the creek you crossed to get here.
Irish and German immigrants arrived in the early eighteen forties, and they found something precious. A fast creek dropping over a series of falls, free water power waiting to be harnessed.
They built dams and mills along Cedar Creek, and by eighteen forty-five Cedarburg was a village with grist mills on the creek. A stone woolen mill followed, then a brewery, a flour mill, and more, all turning on the energy of falling water.
Because the town prospered early and then settled into a quiet rhythm, much of that nineteenth century stonework survived. Today Cedarburg's old mills and limestone buildings make it one of the best preserved mill towns in Wisconsin, a working creek frozen into history.
