History:
In 1846 several families from Germany settled in Howards Grove and surrounding areas.  F. Beckfeld built a hotel and hall called the Washington House, which was located at the corner of what is now North Wisconsin Drive and Madison Avenue or highways 32 and 42.  From 1846 to 1854 others that settled here were E. Schlichting, Hy. G. Mueller., Chas. Oetling, Geo. Pieper, A. Selsemeyer, Aug. Fromme, and Carl Freyburg.  Descendants of some of the settlers still live in the Howards Grove area today.  Some time in the 1850's Beckfeld sold the Washington House to Schlichting.  When fire destroyed the landmark in 1969, it was owned by Chas. Johannes.  This is now the site of the Petro Center. Howards Grove was named after H.B. Howard, who built a hotel among a beautiful grove of trees and added a post office within a year.  Later a store and livery were added.  Operated by Aug. Witte in the early 1900's it is now the site of Klemme's Wagon Wheel.  Another of the early established businesses was the "Herman House", a tavern located across from the Washington House.  Later, an adjoining store was built and located there.  This was known for many years as Kolberg's Tavern, now Howard's Pantry. The southern part of the village, known as Millersville, was named after H.G. Mueller.  He built a farm house and crude saw mill on the 3 1/2 acres of land.  By 1854 he had purchased most of the land in his area and laid it out in lots.