Early Potawatomi Indians had a camp trail on the ridge south of the Bark River that became part of Military Trail. About 1840, Wm. O'Dell built the first settler cabin near the Bark. In 1848 the township was called Warren, but when local people wanted a post office and Wisconsin already had a Warren's post office, the local name was changed to Merton. W.W. Caswell built the first hotel in 1847. The first school began in 1843 in a log cabin with D.S. Foote as teacher, a school was built on Main St. in 1848, and a new school was built in 1922. The First Baptist Church formed in 1843, St. John's United Church of Christ began in 1880, and the Merton Fire Dept. was founded in 1917. On March 7, 1922, 257 residents voted to incorporate the Village of Merton. In 1992, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the village and the 75th anniversary of the Fire Dept., the Vietnam Moving Wall was brought to the village, the first time the Moving Wall was displayed in southeastern Wis.