Catawba is a village in Price County, Wisconsin, United States.

[4] According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 4.46 square miles (11.55 km2), all of it land.

[5] Before the railroad was built around 1884, the area that would become Catawba was a forested wilderness cut only by rivers and Indian trails.

[7] The name Catawba is said to come from the wine - perhaps from a crew of railroad gandy dancers who overindulged on the stuff, or perhaps from local lumberjacks who partook at a saloon in Kennan.

[9] By 1902 Peter Hammer's Red Birch Lumber Company had a sawmill running.

He and his wife Isabelle also operated the Commercial Hotel, which largely served men working in the lumber business.

[8] Other early businesses included a lath mill, the Bendixon butcher shop, the Hamm's Brewing Company saloon and pool hall, Stevens' barber shop, Swanson's soda fountain, and Gruber's store and opera house.

[11] At some point Wisconsin Highway 14 joined the railroad passing through town.

There were 4.3% of families and 6.0% of the population living below the poverty line, including 12.0% of under eighteens and 5.4% of those over 64.