Affiliate disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you use them, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial recommendations are independent of these relationships.
Wisconsin · St. Croix River · Twin Cities Suburbs · Cheese Curd Capital
Pierce County, Wisconsin
Ellsworth's cheese curds and the St. Croix Valley — from Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery's nationally recognized cheese curds (Ellsworth markets itself as the "Cheese Curd Capital of Wisconsin") to River Falls' UW campus and the St. Croix River's scenic valley communities serving the southern Twin Cities suburbs, in a county where Wisconsin dairy tradition and Minnesota metro growth coexist.
Affiliate disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you use them, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial recommendations are independent of these relationships.
What do you need to do?
Tell us your goal and we'll guide you step-by-step to the right office, forms, and official resources.
Office: Pierce County Emergency Management – Ellsworth, WI | Dispatch: (715) 273-5051
Services: Coordinates mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery countywide; maintains a Hazard Mitigation Plan (2024-2029), Everbridge alert system, nuclear/local emergency plans, and controlled burn coordination; operates a 24-hour dispatch center handling 911 and non-emergency calls for law enforcement, fire, and EMS across the county
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: US-10 and WI-63/WI-72 serve Ellsworth, the county seat; the county sits near the confluence of the St. Croix and Mississippi Rivers
Transit: No dedicated fixed-route county transit identified; confirm current regional options directly with the county
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Pierce County Land Management – PO Box 647, Ellsworth, WI 54011 | (715) 273-6746 | Email: [email protected] | Hours: Mon–Fri 8 AM–4:30 PM | Director: Andy Pichotta
Services: Issues sanitary and land use permits; administers floodplain, shoreland, wetland, subdivision, and St. Croix Riverway zoning ordinances; serves as the County Land Information Office (GIS, uniform addressing, remonumentation, survey review)
Notes: Confirm whether your property falls under county or a specific town/village jurisdiction – many Pierce County towns (e.g., Ellsworth, El Paso) maintain their own separate building inspectors (currently Tony Feuerhelm Inspection Agency LLC for several towns) in addition to county land use/septic permits. Properties within 1.5 miles of the Village of Ellsworth boundary (the “ETZ”) require permits directly from the Village of Ellsworth, (715) 273-4742.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
County VSO: Pierce County Veterans Service Office – Ellsworth, WI
Libraries
LIBRARIES
System: Ellsworth Public Library – 388 West Main Street, Ellsworth, WI 54011 | (715) 273-3209 | Director: Tiffany Meyer | Hours: Mon/Fri 10 AM–6 PM, Tue–Thu 10 AM–8 PM, Sat 9 AM–1 PM
Services: A member of the MORE library system consortium and the Indianhead Federated Library System (IFLS); offers the “Check Out Wisconsin State Parks at Your Library” day-pass program, a Makerspace, and community art exhibits
Related: Additional Pierce County libraries include Elmwood, Plum City, Prescott, River Falls, and Spring Valley Public Libraries
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Pierce County’s seat, ELLSWORTH – named for Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, the first Union officer killed in the Civil War – is genuinely and officially known as the “CHEESE CURD CAPITAL OF WISCONSIN,” a title bestowed directly by Wisconsin Governor Anthony S. Earl in 1983; this designation grew from the Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery, founded in 1910 as the Ellsworth Butter and Cheese Company by thirty local farmers, building on an earlier 1903 Milton Dairy Company butter plant – for decades the creamery shipped over a million pounds of butter annually to New York via dedicated refrigerated railcars before shifting into cheesemaking in the 1960s and debuting its now-famous all-natural Cheddar Cheese Curds, an instant local sensation; today the creamery produces roughly 180,000-190,000 pounds of fresh curds DAILY, sold in all 50 states and internationally, alongside over 80 varieties of specialty artisan cheeses; the annual Ellsworth Cheese Curd Festival, held the last weekend of June, celebrates this heritage; the historic 1900s-era Pierce County Courthouse in Ellsworth, designed by the St. Paul architectural firm Buechner & Orth in Neoclassical/Beaux-Arts style with a large dome atop a five-story hexagonal rotunda, remains a local landmark
Notes: Ellsworth’s genuine, governor-designated status as the Cheese Curd Capital of Wisconsin, backed by nearly 200,000 pounds of curds produced daily, is an extraordinary and well-documented piece of Wisconsin dairy heritage.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
GIS Portal: Pierce County GIS – accessible via co.pierce.wi.us
Parcel Search: Pierce County Land Management/Land Information Office
Addressing/911: Coordinated through Pierce County Land Management (uniform addressing) and Emergency Management
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Facility: Companion Animal Control – serving Pierce County municipalities | (715) 220-1332 | Website: companionanimalcontrol.com
Services: Handles stray animal pickup, sheltering, and impound services for multiple Pierce County towns and cities (e.g., the City of Prescott contracts with Companion Animal Control for shelter, care, feeding, adoption, and related services)
Notes: Owners of stray animals collected by animal control officers must contact the relevant contracted shelter (e.g., Animal Humane Society in Woodbury, MN, for some municipalities) to arrange pickup – confirm which specific shelter serves your municipality, as arrangements vary by town within the county.
Notes: Contact Pierce County directly for current refuse collection and recycling program details; burning permit notification required to the Pierce County Solid Waste Department, (715) 273-3092, in addition to local fire department and town officials.
NOTES
Pierce County’s Ellsworth genuinely earns its governor-declared title as the Cheese Curd Capital of Wisconsin, producing nearly 200,000 pounds of fresh cheese curds every single day. Note that animal control arrangements vary by specific municipality within the county – confirm the correct contracted shelter for your town before a pickup or reclaim. All contact information above was sourced from official county, city, library, and shelter pages as of this writing; phone numbers and hours should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit.
About Pierce County
Heritage | Ellsworth proudly proclaims itself the “Cheese Curd Capital of Wisconsin,” home to Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery, one of the largest cheese curd producers in the country, giving this small west-central Wisconsin county significant dairy-industry pride, while its position along the scenic St. Croix and Mississippi rivers reflects the county’s rural farming heritage Outdoors | The St. Croix and Mississippi rivers offer extensive fishing and boating, while the surrounding farmland and Kinnickinnic State Park provide additional hunting and hiking throughout this scenic west-central Wisconsin river-country county Notable | Ellsworth’s status as the “Cheese Curd Capital of Wisconsin” gives it distinctive dairy-industry pride, celebrated annually at the Ellsworth Cheese Curd Festival Library | Ellsworth Public Library serves the county’s cheese-heritage seat town and surrounding rural river-country communities
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Wisconsin assessments at the municipal level. The Pierce County Treasurer at 414 W. Main Street, Ellsworth, WI 54011, phone 715-273-6744, coordinates tax billing. Appeal to your local Board of Review. No WI estate or inheritance tax.
Courts & Legal
Pierce County Probate Court at 414 W. Main Street, Ellsworth, WI 54011, phone 715-273-3531, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK
414 W Main St, Ellsworth, WI 54011
(715) 273-6752
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Pierce County Register in Probate, Ellsworth (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Pierce County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Pierce County Register in Probate PO Box 97, Ellsworth, WI 54011 (715) 273-6752
Pierce County is in West Central Wisconsin along the Minnesota border and the Mississippi/St. Croix Rivers, county seat Ellsworth. Wisconsin has NOT adopted the Uniform Probate Code and has NO separate probate court – probate is handled by the CIRCUIT COURT (Probate Division) for the county where the decedent lived, administered day-to-day by that county’s REGISTER IN PROBATE. Wisconsin runs two main tracks: FORMAL administration, supervised directly by a circuit court judge, and INFORMAL administration, supervised by the Register in Probate without continuous judicial oversight. Informal administration is the default path for most straightforward estates.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Wisconsin Statutes Chapters 851 through 882 govern probate. Wisconsin is also a MARITAL PROPERTY state (similar to community property) – under the Wisconsin Marital Property Act, most assets acquired during marriage are co-owned by both spouses, so a surviving spouse may already own half of all marital property outright; only the decedent’s half passes through the estate.
Transfer by Affidavit (Wis. Stat. §867.03) – available when the decedent’s ENTIRE probate estate (personal property only; real estate is not covered by this shortcut) has a gross value of $50,000 or less. Available 30 days after death to an heir, a trustee of a revocable trust, a beneficiary named in the will, or a guardian of the decedent.
Summary Settlement (Wis. Stat. §867.01) – geared toward estates of $50,000 or less where there is a surviving spouse, domestic partner, or minor children, or where the estate would otherwise be absorbed by allowances and expenses.
Summary Assignment – another shortcut for estates too small to pay debts in full.
Formal or Informal Administration – required for larger or more complex estates. Begins with a Petition for Administration (Form PR-1801) filed with the county Register in Probate to admit the will (if any) and appoint a personal representative.
Step 2: filing for administration
File a Petition for Administration (Form PR-1801) with the Pierce County Register in Probate.
Mail notice of the hearing to all heirs, beneficiaries, and interested parties at least 20 days before the hearing; publish notice in a newspaper of general circulation in the county for three successive weeks.
Once appointed, the personal representative inventories assets, and the court (for formal administration) or Register in Probate (for informal) sets a creditor claims deadline – generally 3 to 4 months from the date of the court’s order, with first publication of that notice required within 15 days of the order.
The personal representative pays valid debts and expenses, then distributes remaining assets to heirs/beneficiaries.
File a final accounting with the Circuit Court (Probate) showing all assets received, debts paid, and distributions made; once approved, the estate is closed.
Wisconsin’s probate filing fee statewide is generally 0.2% of inventory value, minimum $20.
What it costs
Filing fee: approximately 0.2% of the estate’s inventory value, minimum $20.
Personal representative compensation: presumptive statutory rate of 2% of inventory value (Wis. Stat. §857.05), though the will or the parties can agree to a different amount.
Publication costs, and (for real estate transfers under the small-estate process) an Affidavit of Heirship and Affidavit of Service, notarized and filed with the court.
Typical timeline: simple estates 6-12 months; complex or contested estates 18 months or longer.
Wisconsin does NOT impose a state estate tax or inheritance tax. Only the federal estate tax may apply, with a $15,000,000 per-person exemption for 2026 – meaning the vast majority of Wisconsin estates owe nothing.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
430 W Main St, Ellsworth, WI 54011
(715) 273-3868
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTIONS
(715) 273-6752
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Health Department
Pierce County Health Department, 412 W Kinne St, Ellsworth, WI 54011
(715) 273-6755
Health & Human Services
Pierce County Health and Human Services, 412 W Kinne St, Ellsworth, WI 54011
(715) 273-6755
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Pierce County Health Department – Ellsworth, WI
Services: Immunizations, WIC, environmental health, vital records
Editorial independence: CountyOffices maintains strict editorial independence from our affiliate partners. Our content is researched from official government sources. Affiliate relationships do not influence our recommendations or the information we publish.
Editorial Trust
5 official sources cited
Reviewed by CountyOffices Editorial Team
Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Ellsworth
Population: 42,500
Area: 577 mi²
Tier: 3
Public Records
TruthFinder
Search public records for Pierce County residents.
