Like so many frontier communities before it, Exeland owes its name to the powerful railroads that stretched across the country at the turn of the 1900’s. The Wisconsin Central, now the Canadian National, and the Arpin Lumber Co. line intersected forming an X, and it was at the crossing point that the town of Exeland arose.

Exeland, and it’s neighbors throughout southern Sawyer County, trace their origins to the lumber industry. The virgin woods were the attraction, and they served as a stimulus for the rail’s extension northward.

The town, established in 1907 after Weirgor residents moved the Wisconsin Central depot site to the village plot of Exeland, covers about the same territory as it did in its infancy. When the lumber industry left, most of Exeland growth potential left with it. Today’s residents live a unique existence in a hamlet nestled among the miles of forest which dominate the terrain. Few communities can boast familiarity with their entire population let alone their neighbors. While the world rushes on and shuns the past, Exeland salvages the spirit which carved a town out of the wilderness.