Marshall Area Historical Society
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
Marshall, Wisconsin got its start in 1837, when Andrew Bird, his brother Zenas Bird, and their business partner Aaron Petrie decided to build a public house and sawmill on the banks of a creek we now call the Maunesha. In 1838, a summer wildfire burned their hard work to ashes, and for years the area was known as “Bird’s Ruins.” As investors came and went, our fledgling town became known as Hanchettville, then Howard City, before finally becoming firmly established as Marshall in 1861.