Chelsea

History

The six by seven mile square that would become Chelsea was first surveyed in 1861 by a crew working for the U.S. government. Then in April 1862 another 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: The Surface of this Township is generally rolling and considerably Swampy. Timber principally Hemlock mixed with Birch Sugar Spruce (?) Tamarac Cedar and White Pine. It is watered by numerous Small Streams which unite and form two of considerable size one running in a Southerly direction and the other running NW and becoming a tributary of Chipewa river. The Township on the whole would not be very well adapted to agricultural purposes. In the early 1870s the Wisconsin Central Railroad Company built its line up through the forest on the east side of the six-mile square that would become Chelsea. To finance this undertaking, the railroad was granted half the land for 18 miles on either side of the track laid - generally the odd sections. The railroad built two stations in this town: Whittlesey and Chelsea. Sawmills were built near each station and logging commenced. When Taylor County was formed in 1875, Chelsea was six miles north to south, but it spanned the full width of the county, including all modern towns from Pershing to Greenwood. An 1880 map shows some sort of road roughly following the course of modern highway 13 up to Chelsea station, then heading west along the course of modern Quarter Lane. The 1911 plat map of the six mile square that would become Chelsea shows much of the same as 1880, but the road/track along Quarter Lane had disappeared. By then the whole east and south edges of the town had a fairly complete grid of…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , all land. Most of Chelsea is hilly, with small glacial lakes. It lies within the Perkinstown terminal moraine, which is described under Taylor County.

Race & ethnicity