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Marathon, Wisconsin

7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1902 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Marathon City Village. It stands on Scotch Creek. The Survey maps it on the Marathon quadrangle. 1,576 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,286 feet above sea level.

Marathon within Marathon County

On record in Marathon

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 1 record

Population over time

2 figures

Marathon grew from 1,524 to 1,576 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
20101,524
20201,576+52 (+3%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 7 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

In the county-history sources

4,799 words on this township

History of Marathon County, Wisconsin and Representative Citizens, published 1913 names this settlement in its chapter on Marathon City Village. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

The history of Marathon City is really the history of the first settlement by the Pittsburg Settlers' Club, and of the towns of Marathon and Cassel. The village was platted and the plat recorded on June 8, 1858. The surveyor who laid it out was W. B. Agnew of Stevens Point, where the United States Land Office was located where the lands were purchased by a committee of the club, as referred to under Chapter of Early Settlements. This plat was later corrected by judicial proceedings and re-recorded June 12, 1884.

Passage source: History of Marathon County, Wisconsin and Representative Citizens, published 1913.

Sunday was a day of rest and devotion. The settlers assembled in church for service, coming from one to twelve miles, from the present towns of Marathon, Cassel, and Wien. The family coming furthest to church were the Hornungs, living in section 4 in the present town of Wien. As late as 1867 there were but a few houses in what is now the village.

Passage source: History of Marathon County, Wisconsin and Representative Citizens, published 1913.

Sunday, as was said, was a day of rest and devotion. After church service people gathered together on the road, or at Anton Koester's place and talked over their affairs. Joseph Dessert and Seb. Kronenwetter had each a logging camp on Scotch creek from four to five miles west, and sometimes some of the men would come to Marathon City for some small needful articles like tobacco, or a new ax, to Blume's store, or to attend church. It was on a Sunday after church that this writer made the acquaintance of Mich. Bauman, Peter Heil, John Lemmer, Robert and Anthony Schilling, Joseph Karl, Frank Tigges, Seb. Kronenwetter, Jacob Duerrstein, John Linder, the Urbains, George Lang, Corn. Schmitz, all pioneers, and with a few families in the \illage - an acquaintance which afterwards ripened into friendship.

Passage source: History of Marathon County, Wisconsin and Representative Citizens, published 1913.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Marathon City Village - it names this place 11 more 11 times.

Fires near this place

13 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 13 fires within 5 miles of Marathon between 1993 and 2020, burning about 11 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Equipment and vehicle use4
Debris and open burning4
Missing data/not specified/undetermined3
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Smoking1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
3 June 1997Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
30 May 2009Debris and open burningunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural ResourcesNO PAGE
8 April 2009Debris and open burningunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural ResourcesBODY SHOP
5 April 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources2004004
25 April 1997Debris and open burningunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
24 April 2009Equipment and vehicle use1.5 acresWisconsin Department of Natural ResourcesB-SERIES 3
23 April 1994Misuse of fire by a minor2.6 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
18 April 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Marathon County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 35 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 35 workings within 5 miles of Marathon: 17 occurrences, 15 past producers, 3 producers. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Stone, REE, Thorium, Zirconium, Tantalum, Niobium (Columbium), Hafnium. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
County Concrete, Inc.StoneProducer
Wausau AreaREE, Thorium, Zirconium, Tantalum, Niobium (Columbium), HafniumOccurrence
Alfred Krahn Granite DepositStone, Crushed/BrokenOccurrence
J Schmidt Granite DepositStone, Crushed/BrokenOccurrence
Roger Ross Granite QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Szymanski Granite DepositStone, Crushed/BrokenOccurrence
Allenhofen Gravel Pit #1Sand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Allenhofen Gravel Pit #2Sand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Artus Creek Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Baeseman Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Marathon County

Storms near this place

23 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Marathon in 23 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 10 hail, 8 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado, 1 funnel cloud. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
March 2016FloodMarathon$10,000Runoff from at least two inches of rain that fell across the area caused widespread lowland flooding between Rib Falls and western Wausau. In Marathon City, several feet of water covered Lion's Riverside Park and surrounded homes near River Road. Some of the homes had to be evacuated due to rising water.
April 2008HailMarathon$10,000Baseball size hail caused damage to several vehicles in Marathon City.
May 1998Thunderstorm WindMarathon$2,000no account filed
June 2004HailMarathon$1,500no account filed
April 2025Thunderstorm WindMarathon-Thunderstorms produced a wind gust to 67 mph near Mosinee.
July 2024HailMarathon-Penny size hail fell near Marathon City.
July 2023HailMarathon-Quarter size hail fell near Marathon City. The time of this event is an estimate based on radar data.
December 2021Thunderstorm WindMarathon-Thunderstorm winds downed several trees in Marathon City. The time of this event is an estimate based on radar data.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindMarathon-Thunderstorm winds downed several trees near the intersection of County Road O and Whippoorwill Road, in Rib Mountain.
June 2016Thunderstorm WindMarathon-Thunderstorm winds downed trees west of Wausau, in the township of Stettin. The time of this report was estimated based on radar data.
June 2016HailMarathon-Quarter size hail fell in Marathon City.
May 2012Tornado (EF0)Marathon-A tornado formed southwest of Wausau and rapidly moved northeast just after 7:00 pm CDT. About 100 trees sustained large broken branches or were snapped by the tornado (DI 28, DOD 2, 4). No structures were damaged. Average path width was 50 yards.
June 2007HailMarathon-no account filed
June 2007HailMarathon-no account filed
June 2005Tornado (F0)Marathon-no account filed
June 2005Thunderstorm WindMarathon-no account filed
June 2005Thunderstorm WindMarathon-no account filed
May 2004HailMarathon-no account filed
July 2002Thunderstorm WindMarathon-no account filed
August 2000HailMarathon-no account filed
July 1998Funnel CloudMarathon-no account filed
June 1998LightningMarathon-no account filed
July 1997HailMarathon-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Marathon County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Stettin (historical)3.5 miles7
Rib Falls4.4 miles7
Mount View6.2 miles12
Edgar6.5 miles7
Little Chicago8.1 miles9
Rib Mountain8.8 miles12
Halder9.1 miles7
Poniatowski9.3 miles7

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on MarathonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2058499The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1569014. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.