Township of Rib Lake

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The town has a total area of 74.9 square miles, of which 74.0 square miles is land and 0.9 square miles is water.

Much of Rib Lake is hilly, with small glacial lakes. It lies within the Perkinstown terminal moraine. The Village of Rib Lake is located within the town.

Most of the edges of the six by six squares that would become Rib Lake were surveyed in October of 1861 by a crew working for the U.S. government. In early 1862, the same crew marked all the section corners in the township, walking through the woods and swamps, measuring with chain and compass. When done, the deputy surveyor filed this general description for the six by six square that now contains the village of Rib Lake:

The Surface of this Township is generally rolling. Soil Fair 2nd Rate and good for agricultural purposes. Timber Hemlock Birch Sugar and White Pine of good quality. It is well watered by numerous Small Lakes and Streams of pure water.

The area was logged from the 1880s on, with a large mill on the banks of Rib Lake. Bark from the hemlock mentioned above was another important early product, supplying the tannery in the village of Rib Lake. A good portion of the town is still forest, much of it Taylor County Forest.

Rustic Road #1, a scenic drive that winds over hills and around lakes, was Wisconsin's first official rustic road.