In the spring of 1856, two men climbed to a knoll in the Lemonweir Valley and looked out over the area around them. Scattered at widely separated points were the few log cabins of the first pioneers into this wilderness. Far off to the east could be seen the camp of the surveying party that was mapping the route of one of the first railroads to cross the state. Around them lay the natural meadows which, until two years before, few white men had seen.

These men were Robert E. Gillett and his son, Robert A. Gillett, and they were planning the city they were to lay out on the site. As they planned, they considered a name for the town they visualized. There was no local history on which to draw, for the valley had known neither Indian village nor battlefield.

There was just one link between this area and the past. That was the legend that years before a great Indian chief, named Tomah, had built, near the creek below them, a Council House where the Menomonee and the Winnebago had met together. From an old history the men knew of Chief Tomah’s strong character and high ideals. The story of his life appealed to them. Their decision was made. They would call the city they were planning “Tomah” and through this name the area would be linked to the rich story of Wisconsin’s past.
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