The Greater Northwoods

City in Bayfield County

Washburn

Population
2,051
County
Bayfield County
Location
46.677, -90.901

The City of Washburn is the county seat and largest incorporated community of Bayfield County, Wisconsin, sitting on Lake Superior's Chequamegon Bay along the Bayfield Peninsula in the Greater Northwoods. Chartered as a city in 1904, it grew on logging, brownstone quarrying, and a DuPont explosives plant, and now identifies as the 'Little Town on the Big Lake' anchored by county government, the School District of Washburn, tourism, and its Lake Superior lakefront. Its 2020 census population was 2,051 (down from 2,117 in 2010), and its economy blends government, education, healthcare, and four-season Lake Superior recreation. Government runs through a mayor (Mary Motiff) and a city council, with the annual Brownstone Days festival the signature summer event.

What the records show

Local government

In memory, from Washburn

All obituaries

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