Sheldon is a village in Rusk County, Wisconsin, United States.

Around 1885 a few pioneer families named Marshal, Sergeant and Carman settled in the brush a mile west of Sheldon's current location, in a hamlet they called "Fern."

Woodlawn Cemetery was started in 1903 with the burial of Mrs. Alice Elmendorf (aged 65 years).

In 1905 Max Dietze from Hawkins built a general store east of the cemetery, supplied by driving a wagon with horses across the Jump and along logging roads to Holcombe or Chippewa.

[6][7] Sheldon itself began to take form in 1906 when the Wisconsin Central Railroad built its line a mile east of Fern, over the Jump and through the woods on its way to Superior.

Just north of the river, the Wisconsin Central built a depot, a section house, and a water tank for its trains, and named the station "Sheldon," after one of its officials.

Eventually all businesses and schools moved, until now all that remains out by Fern is farms, homes, and the cemetery.

The Sheldon Woman's Club established a library in 1933, which burned in the early 1940s, but was reestablished.

Pickering's lath mill burned in 1947, but was reconstructed for sawing and planing.

[6] By 1959 the Soo Line was stopping twice a day, providing passenger, freight and mail service, and Sheldon's population was 300.

The town had two or three grocery stores, a few garages, the creamery, two feed mills, some implement dealers, and a lumber yard, but no sawmill.

[6] Sheldon had made the transition from lumber-processing to providing services for the surrounding dairy farms.

[8] According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 0.66 square miles (1.71 km2), all land.

About 15.4% of families and 13.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.4% of those under the age of eighteen and 21.3% of those 65 or over.

Media related to Sheldon, Rusk County, Wisconsin at Wikimedia Commons