The Dunnville School in Dunn County was built in 1908. It currently serves as a private residence. In her book, “Wisconsin’s Lost Towns,” Rhonda Fuchs lists Dunnville as one of Wisconsin’s lost towns.
The school was consolidated in 1956. The kids went to nearby Downsville.
It is very close to the mouth of the Red Cedar River, twelve miles south of Menomonie. Indeed the river meets and empties into the Chippewa River It hosts the Dunnville Wildlife Area to this day.
In its day it was a logging community. It had a creamery, a sandstone quarry, a stone mill, and in 1854 a company store. The company in town was Knapp, Stout, and Company, a major logging outfit that controlled 48,000 acres of virgin timber.
It was said to be a rowdy place. The village was actually located on the north side of the Red Cedar River. It was served by two stagecoach runs per day. It would also get a rail line to Menomonie.
Because of the river, Dunnville became a river port. The rail lines came in and business at the port declined, and so did the town. There was a large sandstone quarry there boasting some of the best sandstone in the US. That helped the town stay alive through the turn of the century
