Town of Easton, Marathon County, Wisconsin: Place Profile

No list of major employers located in the Town of Easton was found in a primary source read this session.

No newspaper or broadcast outlet dedicated to Easton, and no official newspaper for its notices, was named in a source read this session.

No public library outlet is in the Town of Easton; IMLS FY2022 lists no outlet with a Ringle or Aniwa address.

No hospital or clinic located in the town was confirmed; the town's site points residents to schools, healthcare, and shopping in nearby Wausau.

No town park, trail, or lake inside Easton was confirmed from a source read this session; the town's site points to outdoor recreation across Marathon County.

The municipality is the Town of Easton, a civil town in Marathon County, Wisconsin (Census county subdivision GEOID 5507322025).

This profile covers the Town of Easton in Marathon County only, and every figure here is tied to its GEOID, 5507322025.

The town describes itself as nestled in the northeast corner of Marathon County, a short drive from Wausau and part of the Wausau Metropolitan Area.

The Town of Easton covers 42.847 square miles of land and 0.019 square miles of water; the town's own site rounds this to 42.9 square miles.

The town's Census internal point is near 44.99125, -89.42317.

The town's site gives its elevation as 1,322 feet.

The unincorporated communities of Johnson and Kalinke lie inside the town, and part of Sunset does too.

The Town Hall uses a Ringle, WI 54471 address; officials' listed addresses also use Aniwa and Wausau.

The 2020 Census counted 1,148 residents in the Town of Easton.

The Wisconsin DOA estimates Easton's population at 1,184 as of January 1, 2025.

The ACS 2019-2023 5-year estimate of Easton's population is 1,178 (+/-170).

The ACS 2019-2023 median age in Easton is 40.1 years (+/-3).

The ACS 2019-2023 median household income in Easton is $102,708 (+/-$9,938).

The ACS 2019-2023 median value of owner-occupied homes in Easton is $262,500 (+/-$18,050).

Dean Beck is Town Chairman.

Mark Pingel and Susan Kurth are Town Supervisors.

Sherry Weinkauf is Town Clerk (715-573-1372, [email address]); she was introduced as the new clerk at the April 15, 2025 annual meeting, succeeding Ron Sieglaff.

Melanie Neuendank is Town Treasurer.

Dustin Merriam is Fire Chief; property assessment is contracted to Moeller Assessments, LLC (Kurt Moeller); building inspection is by Northwinds Inspection (Darin Pagel); and zoning is administered by Marathon County.

The Town Board holds its regular meeting on the second Monday of each month; the October 12, 2026 meeting is listed at 7 p.m.

Meetings and voting take place at the Town of Easton Municipal Center (Town Hall), 169612 County Road Z, Ringle, WI 54471; polls open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Official notices are posted on the town website and on posting boards at the Town Hall, Junction Road at Highway Q, and Owl Ridge Road at Highway J.

The town's official website is eastonmcwi.gov, launched in 2025, and the town also posts updates on Facebook.

The 2026 annual town meeting was held Tuesday, April 21, 2026, at 7 p.m. at the Municipal Center; the 2026 Board of Review met May 4, 2026.

The Town Chair and Supervisors are elected every two years in April of odd-numbered years.

The town's 2025 expenditures totaled $949,879.01, its portion of the property tax was $503,376.86, and cash on hand at December 31, 2025 was $558,034.20.

The 2027 budget hearing is set for November 23, 2026.

The town took bids in 2026 to resurface Highpoint Road from County Road Z toward Junction Road, about 5,280 feet; the chairman estimated resurfacing two miles of Highpoint at $600,000, with about $30,000 in state TRIP funding awarded.

A future Riveredge Road bridge replacement is estimated at $1.2 million, with the town responsible for 10 percent.

Harter's collects garbage and recycling weekly on Thursday; all occupied residences must have service, billed as a $215 special charge on the tax bill.

The whole town lies in the D.C. Everest Area School District, school district number 4970 for state tax filing.

D.C. Everest Area School District (NCES 5513170), based in Weston, enrolled 5,847 students in 12 schools in 2024-2025.

The town describes its landscape as rolling farmland, open spaces, and close-knit neighborhoods, home to families, farmers, and small businesses.

The chairman reported potential for a large solar array in the town, and wind and solar updates are a standing item on board agendas.

A conditional use permit application for a warehousing and distribution facility on State Highway 52 was on the September 14, 2026 board agenda.

Marathon County had 3,436 business establishments and 65,770 paid employees in 2023, including 18,923 in manufacturing.

The Town of Easton runs a volunteer fire department with first responders; in 2025 it answered 19 calls, 10 of them mutual aid to Hewitt, Ringle, Birnamwood, the Town of Wausau, and the City of Wausau, and first responders handled 28 medical emergencies.

The town's fire protection ISO rating is 6.

The 12th annual Town of Easton Fire Department fundraiser, a cash raffle, holds its drawing October 3, 2026, 4 to 8 p.m., at Homestead on 52.

The Marathon County commissioners created the town of Easton in 1861; it was abolished in 1865 and reestablished a few years later.

The first farm settlement in the present town was made in 1859 by Dennis Manning and his brother, and German immigration began in 1866.

By 1913 the town had one creamery, three cheese factories, five school districts, and two German Evangelical Lutheran churches, St. John's and Zion's.