Village of Spencer, Marathon County, Wisconsin: Place Profile

Employee counts for Spencer's largest employers could not be anchored to a fetched primary source this session.

A newspaper that regularly covers Spencer could not be confirmed from a fetched source.

A hospital or clinic located in Spencer could not be confirmed from a fetched source.

A list of Spencer's parks and their acreage could not be read from the village site this session.

The Village of Spencer is an incorporated village in Marathon County, Wisconsin (Census place GEOID 5575400).

The village covers 1.97 square miles of land and 0.001 square miles of water, centered near 44.753615, -90.298465.

The Village of Spencer is a separate municipality from the Town of Spencer, which had a 2020 census count of 1,586.

Spencer sits at the intersection of State Highways 13 and 98, and the village says State Highway 29 and U.S. 10 are within 15 minutes by car.

GNIS records Spencer as a populated place in Marathon County at 44.7577418, -90.2968012.

The village lies between Spencer Marsh to the northwest and McMillan Marsh to the southeast, about 8 miles northwest of Marshfield along Highway 13.

Spencer was founded in 1874 at a branch of the Wisconsin Central railway; it was earlier known as Waltham and then Irene before taking the name of Spencer, Massachusetts.

The village was incorporated in 1902, according to the Spencer Centennial 1874-1974 booklet that the village's History page links.

The 2020 census counted 1,818 residents in the Village of Spencer.

The Wisconsin DOA January 1, 2025 official estimate for the village is 1,845.

The Census Bureau's July 1, 2024 estimate for Spencer village is 1,813 (2020 estimates base 1,826).

The ACS 2019-2023 5-year estimate of total population is 1,621 (margin of error +/-237).

The ACS 2019-2023 5-year median age is 37.5 years (margin of error +/-3.9).

The ACS 2019-2023 5-year median household income is $74,245 (margin of error +/-$5,819).

The ACS 2019-2023 5-year median value of owner-occupied homes is $143,000 (margin of error +/-$13,003).

Spencer is governed by a six-member Village Board of Trustees and a Village President, all elected to staggered two-year terms with no term limit.

Harry Toufar is Village President, in a term that runs to 2027.

Trustees are Bill Hoes, Jeremy Carolfi and Tom Schafer (terms to 2027) and Robert Moore, Pat Krause and Allen Jicinsky (terms to 2028).

Regular Village Board meetings are held on the second Monday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at the Spencer Municipal Complex, 105 Park Street.

Chris Helgestad is the Village Administrator/Clerk/Treasurer and Stephanie Betlinski the Deputy Clerk/Treasurer; the village office at 105 Park Street is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday (phone 715-659-5423).

Agendas, minutes and packets are searchable on the village's Meetings page, residents can subscribe to notices, and the village code is published on eCode360.

The village's official website is villageofspencerwi.gov.

The board's 2026-27 standing committees are Streets and Sidewalks; Utilities and Equipment; Parks and Buildings; Health, Recycling and Emergency Government; Economic Development and Main Street Revitalization; and Finance and Personnel.

The Spencer Police Department, with full- and part-time staff, is led by Chief Shawn Bauer and reached at (715) 659-5453.

The village publishes a monthly Village Voice newsletter, available at locations around the village and online; the September 2026 edition is posted.

Spencer is served by the Spencer School District (NCES 5514190), a PK-12 district of 2 schools with 631 students in 2024-25, at 300 N. School Street.

Spencer Elementary and Spencer Junior High/High share the 300 N. School Street campus.

The School District of Spencer posts Board of Education and legal notice pages on spencer.k12.wi.us, and its students are the Rockets.

Northcentral Technical College's Spencer campus at 808 N. Pacific Street was dedicated in 1994, and about 900 people take at least one class there each year.

The village established an 80-acre industrial park and TIF district fronting County Road V on its southwest side, selling lots at $1,300 per acre.

Land O'Lakes and FBC Inc. are the two largest industrial customers of the village wastewater plant.

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

Spencer is the community of license for WOSQ (FM 92.3 MHz), licensed to Central Wisconsin Broadcasting, Inc.

The Marathon County Public Library's Spencer Branch is at 105 S. Park Street in the village municipal complex (phone 715-659-3996).

The branch traces its history to 1875, when the village bought thirty books for $19.33; it became a county branch in 1941 and moved into the new village complex in 1997.

Troy Shull is Spencer fire chief (715-659-4030); that the department is volunteer is unverified.

Spencer is home to the LuCille Tack Center for the Arts, whose 2026/2027 lineup is its 30th season.

The Spencer Kids Group, a nonprofit at 117 E. Clark Street, runs a daily youth center with after-school hours, a nightly meal and a July summer recreation program.

The village points to hunting, fishing, snowmobiling and skiing nearby, including more than 900 miles of Marathon County snowmobile trails; the Spencer Swampstompers is the local snowmobile club.

Spencerama Days, the village festival, was announced for June 12, 13 and 14, with festival news on the Spencerama Facebook page.

The Tack Center and the village parks department host Music in July concerts on July 8, 15, 22 and 29.

The Spencer Lions Club meets on the second Thursday of each month at the village complex and holds a smelt fry every April.

Three village wells supply 240 gallons per minute to a treatment plant that processes about 110,000 gallons a day, stored in two elevated towers holding 250,000 gallons in total.

The village wastewater plant is a 0.52 million gallon per day activated sludge plant built in 1989, served by about 13 miles of sanitary sewer and 7 lift stations.

The village held an open house for its new Well #7 and Water Treatment Plant #2 on Thursday, July 30.