The Village of Wind Point incorporated in 1954. Its history involves the vision and dedication of many community-minded residents. Following is a list of highlights from the Village’s history.

  • 1860 – The first Wind Point schoolhouse was built.
  • 1880 – The Wind Point Lighthouse was built. The cost was $100,000, including the foghorn installed in 1900.
  • 1905 – A new two-room school was built overlooking the lake.
  • 1919 – H.M. Wallis purchased most of the northeastern corner of Wind Point for residential development, an area that included nine farms.
  • 1923 – The Wind Point Community Club was established to support the Wind Point School. The Club later evolved to focus on community projects and social activities in the Village.
  • 1929 – City of Racine constructed a six-hole golf course at Shoop Park in Wind Point on a former brick yard property along Lake Michigan once owned by Dr. Clarenon Shoop.
  • 1937 – Construction began on the residence of H.F. Johnson, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, known as “Wingspread.” It was dedicated to the Johnson Foundation in 1961.
  • 1939 – The Armtron Corp. presented the plat of Sandy Hurst Point to the Register of Deeds of Racine County. The plat showed a Michylnn Rd. (now Wind Point Rd.) with a future opening to Four Mile Rd. Also Park Place, Old Pine Ct., Old Pine Cir. opening to Four Mile Rd. and Wallis Ave. (later White Sand Ln.). There were about 60 available lots.
  • 1953 – A public gathering was held at Wind Point School to discuss incorporating the area (at that time located in the Town of Caledonia) as its own village.
  • 1954 – State of Wisconsin received a petition of incorporation of Wind Point and approved an election by the residents of the proposed village. An election was held that year where 95 voted for and 70 voted against forming the village. The first official meeting of the Board of Trustees was held June 1, 1954.
  • 1956 – The Village purchased 20 acres in the area of Main St. and Four Mile Rd. and annexed it for a new school house.
  • 1957 – Natural gas was added throughout the Village.
  • 1958 – 22 street lights were installed on Three and File Mile Rd. However, after disapproval from some of the residents, the lights went to a referendum resulting in a 110 to 95 vote to remove the poles and lights.
  • November 1958 – A new school was dedicated just off Main St. and Four Mile Rd.
  • 1959 – The Johnson Company began work to establish an agricultural experimentation station on their 64-acre farm in Wind Point, which became the Johnson Entomology Research Center on Four Mile Rd.
  • 1959 – An off-duty police officer was hired to monitor the Village for a few hours a week.
  • 1963 – The Village leased an area of land from H.F. Johnson to build and operate an ice skating rink.
  • 1964 – The U.S. Coast Guard granted a five-year revocable lease to the Village to use the lighthouse building. The Board of Trustees held its first meeting in the lighthouse hall in December 1964.
  • 1965 – The Prairie School was built.
  • 1965 – After years of discussions and concerns about wells drying up, the Village established a water utility and purchased water from the North Park Sanitary District.
  • 1967 – The Village Board approved the first phase of a $12 million planned community presented by the S.C. Johnson Company (“Wind Meadows”).
  • 1968 – The “Village Green Park” was established.
  • 1971 – The first branch of Heritage Bank (later renamed to Johnson Bank) opened on the corner of Three Mile Rd. and Main St.
  • 1971 – The Village held its first annual summer picnic on the lighthouse grounds.
  • 1971 – The new Wind Point Library was dedicated. It was located in the lighthouse (the library was discontinued in the early 1980s).
  • July 1977 – The Johnson Company presented plans for the International Conference Center – the Council House to be located on Three Mile Rd.
  • April 1980 – The Park Committee, Community Club and the Garden Club sponsored a three-day celebration of the 100-year anniversary of the lighthouse.
  • 1982 – The Village decided to purchase equipment and do its own snow plowing.
  • October 1982 – The Village Board passed an ordinance establishing a municipal court.
  • 1985 – The Village purchased an unoccupied home located at 215 E. Four Mile Rd. owned by the Johnson Company to serve as the clerk’s office (prior to this point, the clerk duties were carried out from the Village Clerk Iola Pierson’s home).
  • 1991 – The Village approved an agreement to provide police and municipal court services to the Village of North Bay.
  • September 1997 – The U.S. Coast Guard signed the deed transferring the lighthouse from the National Park Service to the Village.
  • 2008 – The Village Board adopts an ordinance establishing a village administrator position and combining it with the clerk and treasurer positions. The first administrator is hired in September 2008.

References and Suggested Further Reading:

“A History of Wind Point: Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Village” published in 2005.