Continuity and Change in Rural Southwestern Wisconsin Hamlets Since 1940

Abstract

An assessment of land use in dozens of southwestern Wisconsin hamlets was published as “The Unincorporated Hamlet: One Element of the American Settlement Fabric” in the Annuals of the Association of American Geographers by geographer Glenn Trewartha in 1943. His research involved extensive travel throughout the region to observe patterns of road development and residential, commercial, and institutional building presence and placement. Over the last 80 years, this region of Wisconsin has witnessed significant economic and population changes. What impacts have these changes had on land use within the hamlets? This study utilized modern technologies, including digitized historical and contemporary aerial imagery, to assess the degree of change in the hamlets. This work was supplemented with three days of fieldwork that documented land use changes on site. In total, 42 hamlets were visited to identify the structures that were described by Trewartha and had been identified from viewing digitized aerial photos. The significance of this study is to understand the landscape changes of these hamlets over the past 80 years in rural southwest Wisconsin. What was found during this research were changes in residential, business, and social institutions in the 42 hamlets visited, which resulted in a classification of hamlets based on the degree to which they experienced a decline, growth, or maintenance of residences and services.