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Our Community

The Town of Hansen is located in Wood County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 742 at the 2020 census.

History

In the summer of 1851 crews working for the U.S. government surveyed the outline of the six mile square that would become Hansen. That November another crew marked all the section corners, walking through the woods and wading the swamps, measuring with chain and compass. When done, the deputy surveyor filed this general description:

The general character of this Township is swampy although there is some good land in it. The soil is poor & being somewhat stony renders it almost valueless for farming purposes. The timber is large & generally of healthy growth except the Pine which is mostly second growth & very poor. The streams are fed by the swamps and are subject to very sudden rise & fall. The timber is of various kinds such as Soft Maple, Sugar Pine (Tamarack & Alder in the swamps), Linn Oak, Ash, and Ironwood. The stone are a Blue Flint.

The Town of Hansen was established in 1901 and named after the now-extinct railroad hamlet of Hansen.

Geography

The town comprises roughly a six-mile square. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 33.9 square miles (88 square kilometers), all land.

Demographics

As of 2025, there were 756 people, 282 households, and 200 families residing in the town. The population density was 22 people per square mile (8.1 square kilometers). There were 297 housing units at an average density of 8.0 per square mile (3.1 square kilometers).








References

  1.  “US Board on Geographic Names”. United States Geological Survey. October 25, 2007. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
  2.  “U.S. Census website”. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January, 2026.
  3.  “Land Survey Information”. Board of Commissioners of Public Lands. Retrieved March 26, 2011.
  4.  “Field Notes for T23N R4E”. Original Field Notes and Plat Maps, 1833-1866. Board of Commissioners of Public Lands. Retrieved May 17, 2013.
  5.  Ellis, Albert G.; Ellis, Frederick S. “Interior Field Notes (Nov. 1851)”. Board of Commissioners of Public Lands. Retrieved May 17, 2013.
  6.  Rudolph, Robert S. (1970). Wood County Place Names (PDF). The University of Wisconsin Press. p. 34. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 4, 2016. Retrieved March 27, 2018.

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