Upon opening the Hawks Inn in 1846, Nelson Page Hawks became one of Delafield’s most prominent early settlers.[1] Born in 1803, the entrepreneur transplanted his family to Wisconsin Territory from upstate New York in 1837 after working as a cabinet-maker, mechanic, inventor, merchandiser, and stagecoach manager.[2] Following a brief stay in Milwaukee operating the Fountain House Hotel on West Water (now Plankinton) and Second Streets, Hawks moved his family to present-day Waukesha County in 1841.[3] While running the inn, he sought new investment opportunities, including a nearby sawmill and Mississippi River steamboat.[4] Hawks remained a Delafield resident until his death in 1863, serving farmers, merchants, and other passers-by travelling to and from Milwaukee.[5]
Footnotes [+]
- ^ “History of Delafield WI,” Hawks Inn, accessed February 25, 2013.
- ^ “Writings of Nelson P. Hawks,” Hawks Inn, accessed July 7, 2016.
- ^ Milton J. Bates, “The Mill on the Bark: Despite the Ravages of Fire and Time, Nelson P. Hawks’s Old Mill Survives Intact,” Wisconsin Magazine of History, Summer, 2001, 7.
- ^ “Early Day Taverns,” The Watertown Times, December 27, 1915.
- ^ Ibid., 6-7.
For Further Reading
Still, Bayrd. Milwaukee: The History of a City. 2nd ed. Madison: The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1965, 99-100.
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