Keeping Knellsville on the map

Mike Didier is on a mission.

Didier, chairman of the Town of Port Washington, doesn’t want Knellsville — an unincorporated community that was once the heart of the township — to fade into the annals of history.

“There are people who live in Knellsville who didn’t know they’re in Knellsville,” Didier said, noting that today the only real recognition of the community is found on the town’s zoning map. “My generation — 20 years ago most of the kids didn’t know the name Knellsville.

“It’s substantially different than the rest of the town. It’s its own distinct area.”

Knellsville today is home to a number of businesses, as well as the Town Hall and Plier’s Full Circle and a few residences.

But it was once a bustling town center with a rich history, Didier said — a history he doesn’t want to be forgotten.

To keep that from happening, Didier is posting “Knellsville” signs at three entrances to the community.

It’s been decades since similar signs delineated the community, he said, and the area deserves them. 

The unincorporated areas of Lake Church and Waubeka also have signs identifying them as unique communities at their borders, he noted.

Knellsville, Didier said, is one of the county’s early settlements, founded in 1852 and presumably named after William Knell, an early landowner.

“Everyone makes the assumption that’s where the name comes from,” Didier said.

Knellsville was always a portion of the Town of Port, Didier said, but it was a distinct community,

“It was more established than some,” he said. “If you lived there, your postal address was Knellsville.”

The oldest standing structure in the town is the Green Bay House, once a popular stop for travelers to Green Bay — and today known as Plier’s Full Circle. The building, built in 1849, had a reputation as a house of ill repute, Didier said, whether it was deserved or not.

Knellsville was a thriving place in its day, with a gas station, tavern, restaurant, stores and housing.

There was the Johannes mink farm, established in 1926, that produced high-quality mink “that looked like sable” until 1969 and the Pauly Cheese Factory, started in 1878, that became one of the largest cheese factories in the world, according to the historical marker at Town Hall. There was also the Knellsville Canning Co., which ran from 1910 to 1955 and canned peas, lima beans and corn.

And there’s the Town Hall, which is located in a one-room schoolhouse built on Highland Drive in 1918, replacing a wooden school that had been on the property. A fire in 2000 destroyed much of the interior, but it was rebuilt to serve the community.

Knellsville looked like it would continue to thrive until the late 1960s, when the federal government began looking to build I-43. 

There were two options for the Port interchange, Didier said — one that would split Knellsville and another about a mile north.

Ironically, the Town Board voted in favor of the plan that would divide the community, he said.

“Less farms would be affected by going through Knellsville,” Didier said. “And the Town Board was run by — you guessed it — farmers.”

When the freeway was built, two of Knellsville’s three taverns were demolished and about half of the 20 houses were razed or relocated.

Today, Knellsville is poised on the verge of being rediscovered. A proposal to create an industrial development just west of Highland Drive, with the land being annexed to the City of Port, would bring sewer and water service to the township and potentially new life to Knellsville, which is zoned for various types of businesses typically found in a town center.

But no matter what happens, Didier is determined that Knellsville and its history will not be forgotten.

“It’s not going to die under my watch,” he said.