Crandon, Wisconsin

Episode 114 / 11 April 2019 / 151 min / full

Hot For Teacher

"This week, in Crandon, Wisconsin ... it's in Forest County." about 0:00:00

The case: Murder of Paul Pauly (March 1976). Read the case file.

The figures, as told in 2019

Population

1,967

Median age

37.3

Median household income

just under $40,000

Median home value

$84,500

Two-bedroom rent

about $700 a month

Cost of living

76.9

Religious

46%

Property crime

▼ about half

Violent crime

▼ about one third

History, in brief

• Samuel Shaw, an entrepreneur, bought property at the edge of Forest County in the 1880s and people began coming to the area. about 0:12:12
• German and Polish immigrants were the main settlers; they first tried farming potatoes and berries, which failed. about 0:12:37
• Residents relied on fishing, poaching and berry picking to survive. about 0:13:12
• The county was created in 1887 after residents lobbied for it. about 0:13:45
• Rail service reached the area in the late 1800s, though the line did not reach the town directly until after 1900. about 0:13:54
• The Page and Land Deck Lumber Company acquired hardwood timber land near Crandon around 1900 and built a large sawmill near the lake on the north side of town. about 0:14:46
• The population grew from 800 to about 2,400 in about three years because of the sawmill work. about 0:14:46
• Settlers and loggers were recruited from Kentucky; the sawmill was eventually moved from Crandon to Kentucky. about 0:15:28
• Crandon was incorporated in 1909 and a courthouse was built around then. about 0:16:39
• Timber diminished and only a couple of logging companies remained. about 0:16:47
• The economy in the 1900s included a creamery, a potato warehouse, a cheese factory, a cabinet shop and a broom handle factory. about 0:17:02
• From the 1980s to the early 2000s there was a fight over a proposed copper mine after Exxon found a copper deposit; the legislature passed an act in 1998 to limit mine sites and the project was withdrawn in October 2003. about 0:18:27
• On October 7, 2007, Tyler Peterson, a Forest County Sheriff's Department employee and Crandon police officer, shot seven people and killed six in town. about 0:20:36
• In 2014 Crandon recalled its mayor by a two-to-one margin. about 0:21:07
• The town has two casinos. about 0:22:59
• The local economy still includes some logging, tourism and light industry. about 0:21:52

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