Village of Birnamwood, Shawano and Marathon Counties, Wisconsin: Place Profile

The Wittenberg Enterprise & Birnamwood News, published by NEW Media Inc., covers the village.

No hospital or clinic located in the village was confirmed from a source read this session.

The municipality is the Village of Birnamwood, an incorporated village in Shawano and Marathon counties, Wisconsin (Census place GEOID 5507600).

The Village of Birnamwood is a separate municipality from the Town of Birnamwood in Shawano County, which surrounds most of it.

The village spans two counties: 716 of its 730 residents in 2020 lived in Shawano County and 14 in Marathon County.

The village covers 2.203 square miles of land and no water area.

The village's Census internal point is near 44.931882, -89.209503.

U.S. Route 45 runs through the village, and many village businesses list Highway 45 addresses.

The 2020 Census counted 730 residents in the Village of Birnamwood.

The Wisconsin DOA's January 1, 2025 final estimate for the village is 741 residents (725 in Shawano County, 16 in Marathon County).

The Census Bureau's July 1, 2024 estimate for the village is 724, from a 2020 estimates base of 725.

The ACS 2019-2023 five-year estimate of the village's population is 688 (margin of error +/-97).

The village's ACS 2019-2023 median age is 52.2 years (+/-5.4).

The village's ACS 2019-2023 median household income is $50,000 (+/-$22,988).

The village's ACS 2019-2023 median value of owner-occupied homes is $134,800 (+/-$12,197).

A village president and six trustees govern Birnamwood. Mike Sprague is Village President, and the trustees are Ronald Resch, Jason Cieslewicz, Philip Kersten, Karie Brown, Ed Resch and Mark Klumpyan.

Jody Dombrowski is the village clerk (715-449-0059, [email address]); the office is at 362 Railroad Street, mailing address PO Box M, Birnamwood, WI 54414.

Conner Opper is Director of Public Works, and Todd Anderson of Up North Assessments LLC is the village assessor.

The Village Board meets on the second and fourth Monday of each month at 7:00 p.m. at the Matsche Community Center and Village Hall, 362 Railroad Street.

Board agendas post at the Matsche Community Center/Village Hall, the Birnamwood Post Office and Bank of Wisconsin, and minutes post on the website's home page.

The official village website is villageofbirnamwood.com.

Recent board projects include opening village streets to ATV and UTV traffic (2021), buying a new fire engine (2021), and an April 2023 referendum to continue funding EMS service.

The Wittenberg-Birnamwood School District covers the village.

The Wittenberg-Birnamwood School District enrolled 1,175 students with 78.94 full-time-equivalent classroom teachers in 2024-2025 across three schools.

Birnamwood Elementary, at 337 Main St., is the district's school in the village; high school students attend Wittenberg-Birnamwood High in Wittenberg.

The village's business list includes a hardwood flooring maker (Woodstock Hardwood Flooring), a sawmill (Kersten Lumber Co.), a veterinary practice, a bakery, auto shops and small retailers, many along U.S. Highway 45.

The village history names long-standing businesses including a funeral home (1937), a bakery (1960), a veterinary practice (1966) and a lumberyard (1977), plus a small industrial area.

Shawano County had 892 business establishments and 10,135 paid employees in 2023, including 2,429 in manufacturing.

WYNW (92.9 FM), licensed to Relevant Radio, Inc., has Birnamwood as its community of license.

Birnamwood Area Emergency Services (BAES Inc.) provides fire, rescue and ambulance service to the village from its main station in Birnamwood, with a second station in Mattoon.

The Birnamwood Branch library, which the village lists as the Birnamwood Public Library at 337 Main Street, shares a building with Birnamwood Elementary.

The Matsche Community Center and Village Hall at 362 Railroad Street opened in 2012, is modeled on the Chicago and North Western depot that once stood there, and holds up to 110 people.

The Birnamwood Post Office is one of three official agenda posting sites, and the village history calls it the oldest institution in the village, with its first postmaster appointed in 1881.

Village parks include Birchwood Park, with a stocked fishing pond, and a ballpark where the board scheduled wheelchair access for completion in early 2023.

The village's 4th Annual Berry Merry Holiday Kickoff is set for November 28, 2026 on Main Street.

Birnamwood's fire and ambulance service holds an annual Pancake Feed at the fire station; the 2026 date was June 28, 8 a.m. to noon.

Village trick-or-treat is October 31, 2026, from 4 to 7 p.m.

Birnamwood began in 1880 when the Milwaukee, Lake Shore and Western Railroad reached the site, and the village history ties the name to Birnam Wood in Shakespeare's Macbeth.

Residents voted 67 to 8 to incorporate the village, with papers filed in February 1895, and elected the first officers in 1895.

Birnamwood High School opened in 1895 and graduated its first class in 1898; the village kept an independent school until 1970, when it consolidated with the Wittenberg district.

USGS GNIS lists Birnamwood as a populated place in Shawano County at 44.9333, -89.2096.