First known as the “Head of the Lake”, Cecil was founded by the logging industry around 1849.  Wisconsin Pine cut in and around Cecil was floated across Shawano Lake down the Wolf River to Oshkosh.  The second major industry here was the ice harvest in Cecil Bay.  Some of this ice shipped as far away as Milwaukee.  When the railroad was finished in 1884, the new settlement at the “Head of the Lake” was named Cecil, after a railroad man by the name of Cecil Leavitt.

Today, Cecil is a vacationers retreat on Shawano Lake, providing visitors with places to stay, eat and drink, golf, fish and boat, dance, play ball, camp, hunt and wintertime fun on the many snowmobile trails in the area, as well as ice racing and of course, ice fishing.

Come visit our small community, summer or winter, there is a place on the lake for you.  After more than 100 years, Cecil remains the only Village on Shawano Lake.