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In the book Wisconsin Highways 1835-1945 in Chapter 1 is given a good overview regarding the early 'roads' in the area. "With the rapid early growth in population throughout the settled areas of the territory, the Indian trails, which comprised the only means of overland travel between settlements, were widened into roads suitable for ox cart and wagons. All such efforts of development, however, had to be undertaken by the early settlers, as it was nearly two decades later before there were efforts by the local government directed to that end. There was no road suitable to accommodate a team of horses and wagon north of Milwaukee." As far as Indian trails go there were two located in the Township of Germantown. One, the Fond du Lac Trail traversed from Milwaukee through the township going through what was to become Kuhburg, South Germantown, Dheinsville, then skirting to the west of West Bend and on to Fond du Lac. The second trail, the Appleton Trail traversed through, Willow Creek, Meeker Hill, To Richfield and on to Hustisford. In 1838 there would have been two territorial roads in the then Washington County. One ran from Milwaukee along the lake boarder to Port Washington and a second running north northwest from Milwaukee to Menomonee Falls, to Cedar Lake to Fond du Lac. In 1842 and 1846 additional appropriations were made for the Milwaukee to Fond du Lac Territorial Road. In 1842 in a letter from Johann Knetzger to his family back in Bavaria, he states that by 1 July 1843 you have to pay taxes 1 dollar and two days work on the road for every 80 acres, regardless of whether you worked the land or not. In 1846 a territorial road was opened from Milwaukee to Fond du Lac. This roadway today is identified as State Highway 175 previously known as Federal Highway 41. In 1847 a stage line was established between Milwaukee and several cities one being Fond du Lac. By 1850 the number of stagecoach trips per week had increased to six. Once the railroads arrived in 1855, stagecoach transportation all but disappeared. In 1851 and 1853 appropriations were made for the state road from Milwaukee to West Bend through Germantown. This was to become in later years State Highway 55/45. So what do we see happening here. We see one trail running through South Germantown and Dheinsville then heading north to Fond du Lac. The second trail heads basically in the same direction but in Richfield heads more west to Hustisford. This is done through Menomonee Falls (Appleton Trail) and at Willow Creek a switch is made to Fond du Lac Trail proceeding to Fond du Lac. In the 1850s the Fond du Lac trail roadway through Germantown to West Bend is improved. While the trail system and the eventual road system were similar, in the beginning at least, they seemed to commingle. It would seem that the initial preferred route of travel from Milwaukee to Fond du Lac, the settlers took the Appleton Trail to what was to become Willow Creek, turned right on to "Goldendale Trail", where it begins, following this short trail to Fond du Lac Trail, taking a left on to the Fond du Lac Trail where Goldendale Trail ends. The preferred northern route was the Fond du Lac Trail but not through Germantown. Why the switch at Willow Creek? The distance is almost five miles. North of Richfield the distance would be a bit more than a mile. What did the Indians know that we do not? Or are we misinterpreting this? Why would this be? Fond du Lac Trail in Germantown in these early years was not passable 365 days a year for in the springtime it would have been blocked by water for weeks, maybe even a month or more where the Menomonee River crosses it near Freistadt Road. At the time this would have been Staatsville. The Goldendale "Trail" would have been passable 365 days a year. While the Fond du Lac route was the most direct route south to northwest, it was not always passable. This might have impacted the initial settler flow through South Germantown. The 1859 plat map shows Fond du Lac Road entering the Township where section 35 and 36 meet going north on these sections' borders to sections 25/26 when it veered northwest and continued in this direction past Freistadt Road stopping there. At that point it became Fond du Lac Trail and continued so to the northeast quarter of section 6 where the Road then exited the Township. Appleton Road entered the Township about center on section 33 heading northwest through Willow Creek to the center of section 30 whence it headed north to Meeker Hill and at this point veering northwest where it entered Richfield Township. In summary then, in the very early years, from Milwaukee, individuals would have taken Appleton Trail through Menomonee Falls to Willow Creek, then if they were heading northwest continued on this trail to Hustisford. For those heading to Fond du Lac, at Willow Creek they would have veered right through Goldenthal connecting to Fond du Lac Trail just to its north, and then followed Fond du Lac trail on to Fond du Lac. Fond du Lac Trail from Milwaukee to the Goldenthal junction was not improved until 1851/1853 half a decade later. Looking at a photograph taken about 1900, at the intersection of Main Street and Fond du Lac Road, it shows the traffic pattern did not go north over the hill but entered the village. Where it headed north again is unknown but it would have been either North Street or Broadway, suspect Broadway as this would have the traffic passing by the majority of the Germantown businesses. In 1938, Appleton Road to Fond du Lac was identified as highway 41. Fond du Lac Road was referred to as highway 55. Running east-west was highway 167 (Holy Hill Road) Dheinsville on west, highway 60 Hustisford through Hartford, Jackson to Saukville and highway 33 from Beaver Dam through Horicon, Addison, Allenton, West Bend, Saukville to Port Washington. In 1950s the freeway system was introduced and a new roadway prepared. The route ran pretty much parallel to Appleton Road, then highway 41, to its east, and was called highway 41. Appleton Road was now identified as highway 175. One big difference between the new 41 and the old 41 was that it skirted the populous areas and was a limited access road. The addition of this new highway saw much of the traffic on Appleton (old 41) and Fond du lac (55) diverted to it. Some time later a freeway was constructed in the northern end of the Richfield-Germantown borders connecting to highway 41 and headed north towards Fond du Lac, again bypassing populous areas. It was identified as highway 45 and assumed some of the the traffic that had used highway 55 running through Germantown. The new highway 45 was a limited access roads. Highway 55 north from Bonniwell Road was renamed County Road P, and the roadway south of this point through Germantown was renamed highway 145. Highway 60 remained highway 60 and highway 33 remained highway 33. For the most part throughout the last 150 years, these routes have been the major roadways for traffic flow from Milwaukee northwest. They have been augmented by the freeway system which directionally followed these same routes but blazed new trails. |