Amberg

History

There were several main companies in the Amberg area during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Amberg Granite Company was the first in the area and later, the Pike River Granite Company, which formed in large part due to poor working conditions at the Amberg Granite Company. The Amberg Granite Company was owned by William Amberg of Chicago and consisted of quarry operations in Amberg—the Argyle, Martindale, the Athelstane and Aberdeen. The Argyle and the Martindale quarries produced the fine-grained gray granite and the Aberdeen quarry produced the "Amberg red." The Athelstane produced a gray granite, but course grained, similar in texture to the Amberg red. Much of their granite was used in Chicago for curbing blocks and street paving. It was also used for buildings such as, the Minnesota State Capitol, and buildings in Chicago and Cincinnati. The Pike River company produced primarily the fine-grained gray granite and much of it was sold as monumental stone because of its strength and attractiveness. However, in 1929, 500–600 cars of this stone was sold to the Universal Granite Company of Milwaukee to be used as breakwater stone. Although, once a thriving, profitable businesses, there are no longer any active quarries operating in the Amberg area. More about the history of these quarries and the surrounding area can be found at the Amberg Museum complex, this is located in the town of Amberg on Marinette County V, right off of Highway 141.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 72.7 square miles (188.3 km2), of which 71.8 square miles (186.0 km2) is land and 0.9 square mile (2.3 km2) (1.21%) is water.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  682
• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  672
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  657
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  548
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  497
• White-breasted Nuthatch

  Sitta carolinensis Latham, 1790 · Aves
  468
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  451
• Red-breasted Nuthatch

  Sitta canadensis Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  428

Most recent

• M 2.5 — 2024-01-07
  3 km NE of Mole Lake, Wisconsin
• M 2.6 — 2021-06-02
  11 km S of West Ishpeming, Michigan