- Ulao, Wisconsin
Ulao, Wisconsin is an unincorporated community in the Town of Grafton in Ozaukee County,
Wisconsin . It is located at the intersection of Ulao Road and the old Chicago and Northwestern railroad running from Milwaukee to Green Bay. Today, I-43 runs a few hundred feet to the west of the town.History
Just to the east of Ulao, on the shore of
Lake Michigan , was the town of Port Ulao. Port Ulao was founded in 1847 by James T. Gifford, an investor fromElgin, Illinois . In this area Gifford began a business of selling cords of wood to steamships heading down the lake. He built a 1000 foot wooden pier into the lake for ships to dock. He then constructed a chute down the side of a steep bluff to transport logs which farmers in the area produced while cutting down the local forests in order to create farmland. [http://www.village.grafton.wi.us/history.htm Early History of Grafton is Recalled in Talk by Ralph Zaun ] ]The same year, Gifford was granted a charter by the territorial legislature to build a plank road from Port Ulao west to the
Wisconsin River . Only three miles were actually built, but this turnpike, now known as Ulao Road, became the basis of today's Highway 60.Ulao Creek runs through the community.Notable residents
*
Charles Guiteau , assassin of PresidentJames Garfield , was James Gifford's nephew and lived in Ulao from 1850 to 1855. [ [http://www.ulaocreek.org/Newsletter/HistoryPortUlao.htm History and origin of Port "Ulao"] ; Jill Hewitt; RetrivedOctober 5 2007 ]Landmarks
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Kevich Light is located in Ulao.References
External links
* [http://www.town.grafton.wi.us/History/origins.htm History of Ulao] from the Town of Grafton website
*Hewitt, Jill [http://www.ulaocreek.org/Newsletter/HistoryPortUlao.htm "History and Origin of Port "Ulao"] . From the [http://www.ulaocreek.org Ulao Creek Partnership]
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