Medford is a town (seven by six mile rural municipality) in Taylor County, Wisconsin, United States.

The western edge of the six by seven mile rectangle that would become the town of Medford was first surveyed in 1847 by a crew working for the U.S. government.

In late 1861 a different crew of surveyors marked all the section corners in the township, walking through the woods and swamps, measuring with chain and compass.

[5]The area around Medford remained largely forest until 1873, when the Wisconsin Central Railroad cleared a roadway south to north along the Black River, and laid its track heading for Ashland.

To finance this undertaking, the railroad was granted half the land for eighteen miles on either side of the track laid - generally the odd sections.

[7] At least one sawmill was built in Medford that same year, and logging expanded in the surrounding country.

[9] An 1880 map of this area shows roads of some sort heading out from Medford into the surrounding country.

A few large parcels without settlers are still north of Medford - some in odd sections still owned by the railroad.

[11][12] The 1913 plat map shows more roads, more settlers, another rural school added two miles east of Medford on what would become 64.