Curtiss is a village in

Clark County Clark County may refer to: *Clark County, Arkansas *Clark County, Idaho *Clark County, Illinois *Clark County, Indiana *Clark County, Kansas *Clark County, Kentucky *Clark County, Missouri *Clark County, Nevada, containing Las Vegas *Clark County, ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

. The population was 216 at the 2010 census.

Geography

Curtiss is located at (44.953574, -90.433228). According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the village has a total area of , all of it land.

History

Curtiss was established as a rural railroad station in 1882 and is named after the chief engineer who built the railroad. The village of Curtiss was platted November 17, 1882, having been surveyed by Edwin Parks. The surrounding area was occupied primarily by Norwegian and German emigrants. The primary industries were dairy farming and lumber. By the 1890s, several cheese factories were established in the surrounding townships of Mayville, Hoard and Colby. Additionally, A. D. Bass operated a large sawmill in the southern part of the village. An application for incorporation of the village was made to the State of Wisconsin on October 14, 1914: however, actual incorporation was not granted until March 30, 1917 (Curtiss Centennial Booklet). A two-room school served elementary grades until 1966 when the school was consolidated with the nearby Abbotsford Public Schools. Perhaps the most famous person to come out of the Village of Curtiss was Army Colonel Franklin Matthias, who oversaw the construction and early operation of the

Hanford Site The Hanford Site is a decommissioned nuclear production complex operated by the United States federal government on the Columbia River in Benton County in the U.S. state of Washington. It has also been known as SiteW and the Hanford Nuclear R ...

during World War II. The young Colonel Matthias was so proud of his work that he accompanied the first plutonium produced at Hanford to Los Alamos. On June 8, 1905, a hail storm damaged nearly every building in the village. On October 15, 1974, Curtiss was the site of a protest by the

National Farmers Organization The National Farmers Organization (NFO) is a producer movement founded in the United States in 1955, by farmers, especially younger farmers with mortgages, frustrated by too often receiving crop and produce prices that produced a living that paid ...

(NFO). NFO farmers slaughtered and buried in a trench 638 calves, mostly less than two weeks old. The protest was in response to the low price of

veal Veal is the meat of Calf (animal), calves, in contrast to the beef from older cattle. Veal can be produced from a calf of either sex and any List of cattle breeds, breed; however, most veal comes from young male calves of Dairy cattle, dairy b ...

. At the time, veal calves were selling for $0.17 per pound, resulting in a net loss to the farmer due to high feed costs. Public backlash against the NFO and the protest was great, with President Ford weighing in to call it "shocking and senseless." In 1976, the US EPA aided the village with a grant to establish a municipal sewer and water system. The system was expanded in the 1990s and again in the 2000s to account for industrial growth related to the meat packing industry.

Demographics

2010 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2010, there were 216 people, 76 households, and 52 families living in the village. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 82 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 58.3%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.5%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 1.4% Native American, and 39.8% from other races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 51.9% of the population. There were 76 households, of which 39.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.7% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 15.8% had a female householder with no husband present, 7.9% had a male householder with no wife present, and 31.6% were non-families. 25.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.84 and the average family size was 3.48. The median age in the village was 30.5 years. 28.7% of residents were under the age of 18; 11% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 29.2% were from 25 to 44; 17.6% were from 45 to 64; and 13.4% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the village was 50.9% male and 49.1% female.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 198 people, 68 households, and 45 families living in the village. The

was 288.8 people per square mile (110.8/km²). There were 70 housing units at an average density of 102.1 per square mile (39.2/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 64.65%

, 0.51% Native American, 1.01% Asian, 33.84% from other races.

or Latino of any race were 34.34% of the population. There were 68 households, out of which 41.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.3% were

living together, 2.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.4% were non-families. 27.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.91 and the average family size was 3.70. In the village, the population was spread out, with 35.4% under the age of 18, 6.6% from 18 to 24, 30.8% from 25 to 44, 12.1% from 45 to 64, and 15.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 29 years. For every 100 females, there were 108.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 113.3 males. The median income for a household in the village was $29,250, and the median income for a family was $34,167. Males had a median income of $25,000 versus $23,125 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the village was $11,061. About 7.7% of families and 14.4% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 17.9% of those under the age of eighteen and 5.6% of those 65 or over.

Education

It is in the Abbotsford School District.
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References

{{authority control Villages in Wisconsin Villages in Clark County, Wisconsin