The Greater Northwoods

City in Sawyer County

Hayward

Population
2,533
County
Sawyer County
Location
46.007, -91.490

Hayward is an incorporated city and the county seat of Sawyer County in northwestern Wisconsin, with a 2020 Census population of 2,533 across about 3.17 square miles of land on the Namekagon River. Founded on the 19th-century lumber trade (named for Eau Claire lumberman Anthony Judson Hayward), it runs a mayor-council government under Mayor Gary Gillis and today anchors a Northwoods economy built on outdoor-recreation tourism, healthcare, education, and county government. Hayward is nationally known as a fishing and winter-sports destination: it is home to the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame and its giant fiberglass muskie, the finish town of the American Birkebeiner cross-country ski race, and the host of the Lumberjack World Championships and the annual Musky Festival. Key anchors include the Hayward Community School District, the Sherman and Ruth Weiss Community Library, Marshfield Clinic Health System's Hayward presence, and the Sawyer County Record as the local paper of record.

What the records show

Local government

In memory, from Hayward

All obituaries

Every figure here traces to a primary public record, linked at the fact. We gather and cite; we do not author. See something off? Tell us.

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