The Greater Northwoods

Township in Sawyer County

Town of Hayward

Population
3,765
County
Sawyer County
Location
45.990, -91.406

The Town of Hayward is a Wisconsin town (an unincorporated minor civil division) in Sawyer County that wraps around the separately incorporated City of Hayward, the Sawyer County seat. Its official 2020 Census population was 3,765 (Wisconsin DOA and the decennial count agree), making it one of the larger Northwoods towns, and its 2023 Census Gazetteer land area is about 56.9 square miles (the town's own site self-reports roughly 76 square miles). It is governed by an elected Town Board (Chairman John Froemel), runs its own Police, Highway, and volunteer Fire departments plus a town-owned Recreational Forest, and its children attend the PK-12 Hayward Community School District. Its identity is Northwoods lakes-and-forest recreation: the Namekagon River (part of the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway) runs to Hayward, three town-maintained public boat launches serve the lakes, and the surrounding Hayward Lakes area is nationally known for musky fishing, the American Birkebeiner ski race, and the Lumberjack World Championships.

What the records show

Local government

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.

All Northwoods towns