Town of Johnson, Marathon County, Wisconsin: Place Profile

No list of current major employers located in the Town of Johnson was found in a primary source.

The town's official newspaper for legal notices was not identified in a town document read this session.

No hospital, clinic or post office located in the town was confirmed from a source read this session.

No park, trail or named lake inside the Town of Johnson was confirmed from a source read this session.

The municipality is the Town of Johnson, a civil town in Marathon County, Wisconsin (Census county subdivision GEOID 5507338300).

Johnson is a town governed by a chairman and two supervisors, not a city or village.

The USGS populated place named 'Johnson' at 45.0114, -89.3559 is a different place in eastern Marathon County, roughly 38 miles east of this town's center, and is not the Town of Johnson.

The only Wisconsin county subdivision named Johnson in the Census 2024 gazetteer is this Marathon County town; the Village of Johnson Creek (Jefferson County) is a different municipality.

The Town of Johnson covers 35.02 square miles of land and no measured water area.

Johnson's Census internal point is near 44.988979, -90.138947.

When created, the town consisted of township 30, ranges 3 and 4 east.

The town's history names the railroad stations of Corinth and Milan and the settlement of Wuertzburg; GNIS places Corinth at 45.0027, -90.1393 and Milan at 44.9811, -90.1796 in Marathon County.

The Town of Rietbrock's plan places Johnson on Rietbrock's western border.

The Town Hall and shop are at 234975 Corinth Road, Athens, WI 54411; the meeting room is at the north end of the building.

The 2020 Census counted 873 residents in the Town of Johnson.

The Wisconsin DOA estimates Johnson's population at 869 as of January 1, 2025.

The ACS 2019-2023 5-year estimate of Johnson's population is 846 (+/-157).

The ACS 2019-2023 median age in Johnson is 39.3 years (+/-10.8).

The ACS 2019-2023 median household income in Johnson is $70,893 (+/-$10,205).

The ACS 2019-2023 median value of owner-occupied homes in Johnson is $193,800 (+/-$20,228).

Thomas Ellenbecker is Town Chairman.

Kenneth J. Horacek and Brian Popp are Town Supervisors.

Marilyn K. Bhend is Town Clerk (715-316-8566, [email address]).

Wendy Masephol is Town Treasurer.

James L. Kurtzweil is the town's assessor.

Town Board meetings are normally the first Monday of the month at 7:30 p.m. in the Town Hall meeting room, unless otherwise posted.

Meeting notices, agendas and election notices post on the boards outside the Town Hall's west entrance, on the town website and at the clerk's home office.

The town office is open by appointment only.

The town website's Agendas and Minutes page holds 116 records, with a monthly archive back to 2018.

The town's official website is townofjohnson.org.

The town posted Class B Highway Ordinance 25-01 in November 2025.

The July 2026 minutes record that a consultant from MSA submitted a Corinth Road application to the state for an agricultural road improvement grant.

Two school districts cover the town: Athens (about 80 percent of its area) and Abbotsford (about 20 percent).

Athens School District (NCES 5500570) is a PK-12 district of 4 schools with 417 students in 2024-25, based at 601 West Limits Road, Athens.

Abbotsford School District (NCES 5500030) is a PK-12 district of 2 schools with 799 students in 2024-25, based at 510 W Hemlock St, Abbotsford.

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

In 1913 the town's farms supplied one creamery and one cheese factory, and Milan had a saw and planing mill.

The Record-Review, published on Central Wisconsin News, reported in January 2023 that roughly one hundred people packed a meeting where Town of Johnson landowners learned about wind turbines.

A 2021 'Athens Fire District' notice hosted on the town website lists the Town of Johnson as a member of the Athens Area Fire Commission, with the Village of Athens and the Towns of Rietbrock, Halsey, Bern and Frankfort.

No public library outlet is listed in the town; the Marathon County Public Library's Athens Branch is at 221 Caroline St., Athens.

The town recycling center is open Saturdays, 9 a.m. to noon, and white goods and tire recycling is held the first weekend in August.

The Town Hall is available to rent through Supervisor Kenneth J. Horacek.

Town addresses, including the Town Hall, use Athens, WI 54411.

The Town Hall is the polling place, and the August 11, 2026 primary ran 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The town holds an annual white goods and tire collection the first weekend in August; the 2026 sale was August 1.

The town posted Class B Highway Ordinance 25-01 in November 2025, and in 2026 it pursued a state agricultural road improvement grant for Corinth Road.

The town was created on November 15, 1883, and John Junke was elected its first chairman the following spring.

Early settlement followed Frederick Rietbrock's efforts to advertise his hardwood lands to newcomers.

The Abbotsford-Eastern Railroad, owned by 1913 by the Sault St. Marie line, ran through the town from Athens to Abbotsford with stations at Corinth, where Stallmann Brothers kept a store, and Milan.

In 1913 Corinth had a general store kept by Stallmann Brothers, and Milan had a saw and planing mill, a store, a hardware store, a blacksmith shop and a meat market.

In 1913 Milan had two German Evangelical Lutheran congregations, and Wuertzburg had a Catholic congregation organized in 1905 with a church built in 1906.

In 1913 the town had five school districts, each with a new schoolhouse.