Bethel is an unincorporated community located in the town of Richfield, in Wood County, Wisconsin, United States.

Bethel, Wisconsin
unincorporated community
Location of Bethel in Wisconsin
Coordinates: 44°32′26″N 90°05′23″W
Country	United States
State	Wisconsin
County	Wood County
Settled	1899
Elevation [1]	376 m (1,234 ft)
Time zone	UTC-6 (Central (CST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP code	54410
Area codes	715 & 534
FIPS code	55141
GNIS feature ID	1561624[1]
[2]

Settlement

Bethel was established in 1899 as a Seventh-day Adventist education and religious community. Originally part of the Lyman Lumber Company land, and purchased through an offer provided by William Covert. He offered an area of 200 acres (0.81 km²) as a gift to the Bethel community, but only under the agreement to the purchase of 800 additional acres.[3]

Educational Academy

Rooted as a religious educational institution, many families moved into the Bethel area seeking religious education for their students. The school was best known for its industrious education and manual arts.

“The purpose of the academy from its foundation has been to give young people a broad symmetrical training for usefulness, and to lay a solid foundation for any work they may do in a more advanced school. The academy was located in a rural section removed from the contaminating influence of city life, where the teachers and students might devote a part of their time to agriculture and other industries,”

as quoted from History of Wood County authored by George O. Jones.

At the height of its existence, the Bethel educational institution consisted of boys and girls dormitories, post office, school farm of 100 acres (0.40 km²) in size, two barns, carpenter shop, bee house, and two staves. The Bethel academy’s average student population was 130 students during the 1920s.

References

• Jones, George; N. McVean (1923). "Bethel". History of Wood County. pp. 242–244. Retrieved March 16, 2008.