A Brief History of Greenleaf

In 1850, Otis and Elmira Day became the first white settlers in Greenleaf, purchasing 80 acres from Hoel S. Wright of Wrightstown. The Days felled timber from the surrounding forests, fashioning the wood into shingles for trade and sale. In time, they erected a dam and established a water-powered sawmill. From this sawmill came the community’s first name: Day’s Mill. Charles Day, son of Otis and Elmira, became an important contributor to the development of the community, and by the time of his death in 1906, he was involved in a wide variety of business ventures and had represented the district in the Wisconsin State Senate beginning in 1886.

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In the 1860s, it became known that a railroad would be built from Milwaukee to Green Bay, cutting through Day’s Mill. Because of this, Day’s Mill was renamed Greenleaf to honor the railway’s general manager, Emery B. Greenleaf, and the town’s population began to increase. By the end of the 19th century, many residents of Greenleaf were employed in manufacturing jobs at the stave mill, flour mill, and lime kiln. Additionally, the town had many other businesses, including a lumber yard, a stone quarry, general stores, barber shops, a shoemaker, and multiple saloons.

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The Greenleaf Volunteer Fire Department was established in 1903 to protect the growing community and still proudly serves Greenleaf and its surrounding areas today. In the 1900s, Greenleaf continued to grow, and in 1946, State Highway 57 was rerouted through Greenleaf, making it a stop along the road from Green Bay to Milwaukee. Today, one can also walk or bike along the Fox River Recreational Trail, which runs through Greenleaf and was opened in the late 1990s.

Voters within Greenleaf approved incorporation as a village in early 2023, and the Town of Wrightstown received the certificate of incorporation for the Village of Greenleaf in April 2024 from the Wisconsin Department of Administration. On May 21, 2024, the first election was held to elect the inaugural Greenleaf Village Board and Bonnie L. Crossman was elected the first president in the history of the Village of Greenleaf.

Information for this paragraph comes from the pamphlet “From Day’s Mill to Greenleaf: Living Life on the (L)edge 1849-1999,” presented by the Greenleaf Volunteer Fire Department, Inc. & “Greenleaf Volunteer Fire Dept.: 100 Years of Fire Protection 1903-2003”