Eau Galle Township History

Eau Galle is one of the southern tier of St. Croix county townships. It is bounded by Baldwin, Cady and Rush River townships and Pierce county, drained by the Eau Galle and Rush rivers and crossed from north to south by a railroad.

Its villages are Wildwood and Brookville. Eau Galle was one of the first townships in the county to be settled. The early settlers were William Holman, Andrew Dickey, Joseph Barnish and Uriah Briggs. The township, including township 28, range 16, was organized in 1858 with William Holman as chairman and the Messrs. Babcock and McCartney as supervisors.

In early days the whole township was known as Brookville. A post office was established in 1853 with William Holman as postmaster. Mr. Holman built the first sawmill the same year. Originally an active sawmill district, the township is now rich in farms and does a large business in general farming, stock raising and dairying.

The township contains 22,046 acres, having an average valuation of $26.11. There are 375 horses, valued at $22,500; 2,550 neat cattle, valued at $35,700; 660 sheep and lambs, valued at $1,980; 170 swine, valued at $850. The value of real estate is $575,800, of personal property $87,500, making a total valuation of $663,300. Following is the acreage devoted to various crops in Eau Galle township in 1908: No wheat; corn, 95; oats, 5,437; barley, 1,368; rye, 135; flaxseed, 265; potatoes, 100; cultivated hay, 4,175.