About eleven miles up County Highway K from Star Lake is the town of Boulder Junction. For a few years early in the 20th century there was passenger rail service from Star Lake to Boulder Junction, but some time before WWI Boulder Junction got passenger service via Arbor Vitae. Freight service continued via Star Lake, and extended further north from Boulder Junction.

It is a small town, home to a number of small stores, including two small grocery stores. It has the usual complement of tourist shops, and since about the 1960's has been somewhat of an arts and crafts center. A series of wood carvers knows as Grandpa, Uncle Dick, and finally Cousin Willy, produced some very handsome small woodcarvings sold in the area.

The Boulder Junction Area Historical Society is quite active. They have produced a series of post card reproductions of pictures of the area. They have refurbished an old caboose and have a small museum, located near the caboose, completed in 2008.

A much more detailed survey of the town and its history will eventually be provided here. In the meantime the reader is referred to several good local histories in the Bibliography at the tab above.

**** indicates no known author.

Major References

Minor References

First Postmaster

"Frances [Foster] was raised on Fish Trap Lake in Boulder Junction. Her paternal grandmother was a widow living in Minnesota when her son, Jesse [Foster], came to Star Lake to work in a lumber camp. He was just 14 years of age. He liked the ara, moved his mother and brothers, Frank [Foster] and Harold there. His mother found work cooking at the local hotel. Eventually she became postmaster at the two of Oxley, and later became the first postmaster in Boulder Junction." ##1496 Looking Back: Sonny and Frances Remember, Lakeland Times, June 20, 2008.## The local hotel would have been the Hotel Waldheim.

Original Name

Evidently the present location of the town was once a railroad stop known as Rice Lake. See Historical Notes from the Historical Society Newsletter

Musky Capital of the World

The U.S. Department of Commerce granted a federal registered trademark proclaiming Boulder Junction as "Musky Capital of the World," building o a state trademark first issued in 1950 and renewed in '70. See Backward Glances, Vilas County News-Review Sept. 29, 2021 (50 Years Ago - 1971).