West Bend - A City Based on Proximity

 

    My hometown of West Bend is a city influenced by proximity to both natural resources and to larger population centers. Before European settlement and the displacement of native peoples, the Potawatomi and Menominee nations were the first to call the region home, with native groups staying in the area until the 1850s. In the 1840s two men, Byron Kilbourn and Jasper Vliet, were tasked by the then-Wisconsin Territorial Legislature to establish a road link between the growing cities of Milwaukee and Fond du Lac. Halfway along the route in 1845, they settled half-way rest town along the banks of the rapidly-flowing Milwaukee River and named the settlement after the western location of the town along a predominant bend of the river. Shortly after settlement, several families settled the area which quickly grew to over 30 once the river was dammed and a grist mill was built in the 1850s. The area, with its fertile mesic soils underlying forested land, quickly became a good place to establish farmsteads with easy access to the mills. The thick deciduous forests gradually became cleared and converted to grain production 

        Once the railroad was constructed in 1873 linking West Bend to Milwaukee and beyond, the town rapidly expanded with more settlers, quickly leading to the complete deforestation of the area except along the rocky and hilly ridges of the nearby kettle moraine region.  Soon after in the early 20th century, industry began to emerge as a major component of the local economy with companies such as West Bend Aluminum and Amity Leather developing into huge producers of consumer goods. 

    West Bend remained a relatively small city and center of rural and agricultural Washington County until the 1970s, when suburbanization began to spur suburban growth of the city. In the early 1990s, a newly constructed freeway linking West Bend to Milwaukee further spurred the suburban growth of the city as well as the exurban subdivisions of the surrounding rural areas, leading to increased urban runoff, decreased water quality, and further habitat fragmentation of the remaining forests and wetlands. While reduced as a component of the landscape, agriculture has still persisted in the region, albeit in a much more intensive state with large dairy and monoculture operations dotting the landscape. The disposal of manure and application of nitrogen fertilizers has led to increasing concerns of groundwater contamination. Today the area is continuing to feel the effects of suburbanization and agricultural legacy of the landscape, and new issues such as Emerald Ash Borer and climate change are transforming the land as well. However, new conservation efforts are underway for littoral habitats along the Milwaukee River as well as forest and prairie restoration in county parks. 

Sources: 

Wisconsin Historical Society. Wisconsin Local History & Biography Articles; "West Bend News"; "West Bend", "WI"; " 07-22-1925”; viewed online at https://www.wisconsinhistory.org on 5/26/22

Wisconsin Historical Society. Historical Essay. “West Bend, Wisconsin – A Breif History”. 2009