Village of Nelsonville, Portage County, Wisconsin: Place Profile

No list of employers located in the village was found; the village's local business guide is marked 'coming soon'.

No newspaper covering Nelsonville was confirmed from a fetched source, and no broadcast station is licensed to the village in the FCC bulk section. The village keeps a resident email list for updates.

No public library outlet in Nelsonville was found in the IMLS bulk section.

The municipality is the Village of Nelsonville, an incorporated village in Portage County, Wisconsin (Census place GEOID 5556000; county subdivision GEOID 5509756000; WI DOA code 50161).

Nelsonville sits along the Tomorrow River in central Wisconsin.

The village covers 1.029 square miles of land and 0.015 square miles of water.

The Census internal point for Nelsonville is near 44.490214 N, 89.303542 W.

GNIS records Nelsonville as a populated place (feature 1570168) in Portage County at 44.4949737, -89.3098355.

Nelsonville uses ZIP code 54458; the village mailing address is PO Box 86, Nelsonville, WI 54458.

The Census geocoder places the village center in Assembly District 71, State Senate District 24 and Congressional District 3.

The 2020 Census counted 158 residents in Nelsonville.

The Wisconsin DOA estimates 156 residents as of January 1, 2025.

The Census Bureau's July 1, 2024 estimate for Nelsonville is 161, unchanged from its 2020 estimates base of 161.

The 2010 Census counted 155 residents in 61 households; the 2000 Census counted 191.

The ACS 2019-2023 5-year estimate of total population is 197, plus or minus 71.

The ACS 2019-2023 median age is 38.5 years, plus or minus 17.1.

The ACS 2019-2023 median household income is $66,750, plus or minus $21,461.

The ACS 2019-2023 median value of owner-occupied homes is $157,800, plus or minus $91,235.

Rubina Martini is Village President, and Walter Leppen and Paula Kramer are trustees.

Daniel Bootz is Village Clerk/Treasurer (715-824-2499, [email address]) and has held the post since winter 2019.

The Village Board usually meets on the second Tuesday of each month at 6:00 p.m. at the Village Hall, 9500 County Rd. SS.

Meeting notices and tentative agendas post at least 24 hours ahead at the village hall, at the post office and on the village website.

Village bodies include a Board of Review, Planning Commission, Parks Committee, Groundwater Protection Committee and a Village Hall Ad Hoc Committee.

The September 8, 2026 agenda includes Resolution 2026-09-08, which would borrow funds to repair and improve Pavelski Road, plus an October budget workshop and the 2026-2027 plowing RFP.

At its August 18, 2026 meeting the board heard that the village's modified LRIP application for Jerome and Third had been approved, that it still had no plow contractor for winter 2026-2027, and that the initial 2027 fire district budget rises about $9,400.

The village has an adopted comprehensive plan, with copies at the Village Clerk's office and at the Portage County Planning and Zoning Department, 1462 Strongs Ave., Stevens Point.

The Census geocoder places the village center in the Tomorrow River School District (NCES 5500330), a PK-12 district of 5 schools based at 357 N Main St., Amherst, with 1,198 students in 2024-25.

The Tomorrow River School District superintendent asked to attend the village's October 2026 board meeting to discuss a November funding referendum.

Nelsonville sits in Portage County, which had 1,715 business establishments and 29,656 paid employees in 2023. That series does not publish village counts.

The Village Hall is at 9500 County Rd. SS and is the polling place and meeting site.

The village has a post office, one of its three official notice-posting sites.

The village belongs to a fire district governed by a fire commission, and a trustee reports on it at board meetings. The district's name was not stated on pages read.

The Portage County Historical Society operates the Rising Star Mill at 3190 County Road Q in Nelsonville, open by appointment or during special events and available for rentals. The society describes it as built in 1868 and one of Wisconsin's last remaining grist mills of its kind.

The Rising Star Flouring Mill in Nelsonville was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 11, 2018.

The Nelsonville Community Sanctuary, established in May 2017, covers 37 acres of upland forest, fallow field, bottomland forest and marsh with 1,200 feet of Tomorrow River frontage and three springs.

The village playground, with a sledding hill and tennis court, is being rebuilt as the Nelsonville Commons. The plan called for a pavilion and new equipment in spring 2026, and the Parks Committee holds a 2025 Partner Grant from the Community Foundation of Central Wisconsin.

Lake Elaine Beach is a village swimming spot.

GNIS records Meyers Lake in Portage County at 44.4778859, -89.2903897, near the village, and a historical Nelsonville Pond reservoir at 44.4958642, -89.3144531.

The Rising Star Mill hosts the historical society's Music at the Mill concert series.

The village calendar listed a Rising Star Mill Art Show on May 24 and 25, 2025, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The community began about 1855, when Jerome Nelson dammed the Tomorrow River and built a sawmill. He added the flour mill in 1868, and a post office named Nelsonville opened in 1871.

Nelsonville incorporated as a village in 1913, partly to close saloons the Town of Amherst would not outlaw and to stop livestock pasturing on village streets.