History:

1886 The Wisconsin Central Railroad buys part of Samuel O'Grady Bennett's homestead, which he named "Iron City." A boxcar is placed at the junction of the Penokee and Central Railroads, which had newly connected the Gogebic Range with the Ashland shipping docks.

1888 Iron City is renamed Mellen in honor of William Solon Mellen, the general manager of the Wisconsin Central Railroad. Mellen builds its first school on West Street.

Late 1800's The Main Street building that now houses the Iron City Laundromat was erected to house a tailor's shop, and then a shoemaker's shop.

1896 Fayette Shaw (of Boston, MA) builds 5 tanneries in Wisconsin. The largest and most productive tannery in North America is built in Mellen. The Mellen City Hall building is constructed.

1898 George Foster (of Wausau, WI) purchases from Shaw the sawmill that was built to provide lumber during the construction of the tannery complex. Foster quickly becomes a major player in the lumber industry of the north.

1901 The Mellen Weekly Record Newspaper is first published by James Pratt. Jim & Sandy Christl still publish every week.

1903 The telephone connects Mellen with Ashland. Mellen gets its first bank, the Mellen State Bank, housed in Mellen's first brownstone building. This building can be seen on Bennett Street across from the Post Office. This area served as Mellen's financial district for the next 16 years.

1905 The Lockhart building, which houses the Mellen Weekly Record, is built on Bennett Street. 1907 Mellen votes to become a city. A.J. Sullivan, a Mellen businessman, is the first mayor. Mellen's fire and police departments are established. A veneer plant is built in west Mellen. Today, Columbia Forest Products produces veneer on the same site. A fire destroys south Bennett Street. The new brick buildings erected after this fire still serve Mellen's downtown.

1910 The school built in 1897 burns to the ground. A new brick school is built on the same site. Circa 1910 Most buildings on the east side of Main Street are constructed to house local businesses. Northland Foods grocery store occupies the building that the Block family constructed to house one of Mellen's first grocery stores.

1920 The largest census in Mellen history was taken: 1,981.

1922 The tannery closes. The Northern State Bank Building is constructed on Main Street.

1927 The Legion Memorial Library is created in City Hall.

1945 Mellen loses 24 soldiers in World War II.

1946 - Mellen Flood

1947 - Veneer mill supplys birch for SPRUCE GOOSE Howard Hughes flew the Spruce Goose only once (it wasn't spruce, by the way--it was mostly made out of birch). By far the biggest airplane ever built, the H-4, also known as the Hercules, had a wingspan of 320 feet--20 feet longer than a football field. It had enough cargo space to carry two railroad boxcars. It had eight massive engines with 17-foot propellers. It weighed 300,000 pounds. And it was made of wood.

1962 - Hollywood Movie Filmed Here::Ernest Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man

Best Picture - Drama (nom) - - 1962 Golden Globe Best Actress - Drama (nom) - Susan Strasberg - 1962 Golden Globe Best Supporting Actor (nom) - Paul Newman - 1962 Golden Globe Best Supporting Actress (nom) - Jessica Tandy - 1962 Golden Globe Best Director (nom) - Martin Ritt - 1962 Golden Globe

1967 - Mellen lost two local men in Viet Nam War.

1967 - Local Star Scores 52 points in Basketball Game, BOB Boettcher, only one higher scorer in states history.

1970 - High School Baseball team loses first conferance game in 14 years ending one of states longest winning streaks.

1986 Mellen celebrates its centennial.

2005 - "WHAT A STORM" Mellenites are calling it the worst storm ever to hit in such a short time span. 28 inches was the official tally of snow fall that day.