Edgerton, Wisconsin Explained
Official Name: | Edgerton, Wisconsin |
Settlement Type: | City |
Motto: | "Tobacco City U.S.A." |
Mapsize: | 260px |
Subdivision Type: | Country |
Subdivision Name: | United States |
Subdivision Type1: | State |
Subdivision Type2: | Counties |
Subdivision Name2: | Rock, Dane |
Unit Pref: | Imperial |
Area Footnotes: | [1] |
Area Total Km2: | 10.78 |
Area Land Km2: | 10.77 |
Area Water Km2: | 0.01 |
Area Total Sq Mi: | 4.16 |
Area Land Sq Mi: | 4.16 |
Area Water Sq Mi: | 0.00 |
Population As Of: | 2020 |
Population Total: | 5945 |
Population Density Sq Mi: | 1429.4 |
Population Density Km2: | 551.9 |
Timezone: | Central (CST) |
Utc Offset: | -6 |
Timezone Dst: | CDT |
Utc Offset Dst: | -5 |
Elevation Ft: | 817 |
Coordinates: | 42.8361°N -89.0731°W |
Postal Code Type: | Zip Code |
Postal Code: | 53534 |
Area Code: | 608 |
Blank Name: | FIPS code |
Blank Info: | 55-22575[2] |
Blank1 Name: | GNIS feature ID |
Blank1 Info: | 1564443 |
Website: | www.cityofedgerton.com |
Edgerton is a city in Rock County and partly in Dane County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 5,945 at the 2020 census. Of this, 5,799 were in Rock County, and 146 were in Dane County. Known locally as "Tobacco City U.S.A.," because of the importance of tobacco growing in the region,[3] Edgerton continues to be a center for the declining tobacco industry in the area.
History
Originally called Fulton Station, Edgerton was named after a 19th-century businessman, Elisha W. Edgerton,[4] [5] or his brother Benjamin Hyde Edgerton, a civil engineer.[6]
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Edgerton was the center of the tobacco industry in southern Wisconsin. At one time, there were as many as 52 tobacco warehouses dotting the streets of the city.[7] Queen Anne style mansions along Edgerton's Washington Street testify to the wealth and prominence some merchants once had. The 1890s Carlton Hotel, once located on Henry Street, also once served as an additional reminder of the tobacco industry's influence. Although built by a brewing firm,[8] the hotel (which burned to the ground in the 1990s) was frequented by tobacco buyers and sellers.
Edgerton Bible Case
In 1886, Catholic parents in Edgerton protested the reading of the King James Bible in the village schools because they considered the Douay version the correct translation. The school board argued that Catholic children could ignore the Bible readings or sit in the cloakroom while the rest of the children listened to the reading of a Protestant version of the Bible. Because the school board refused to change its policy, several families brought suit on the grounds that the schools' practice conflicted with the Wisconsin Constitution, which forbade sectarian instruction in the public schools.[9]
The circuit court rejected their argument, deciding in 1888 that the readings were not sectarian because both translations were of the same work. The parents appealed their case to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which on March 18, 1890, overruled the circuit court, concluding that reading the Bible did, in fact, constitute sectarian instruction, and thus illegally united the functions of church and state.[10]
Seventy years later, when the U.S. Supreme Court banned prayer from the public schools in 1963, the Edgerton Bible Case was one of the precedents cited by Justice William Brennan.[11] [12]
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.14sqmi, all of it land.[13] None of the area is covered with water, except for Saunders Creek, although the city is within a five-minute drive of Lake Koshkonong.Lake Koshkonong is the third largest lake in Wisconsin, and though very shallow, provides a place for water sports. Skiing, tubing, and fishing are common activities on the lake or the Rock River, which feeds it. The Rock River runs all the way to the Mississippi.
Demographics
2020 census
As of the census of 2020,[14] the population was 5,945. The population density was 1429.4PD/sqmi. There were 2,587 housing units at an average density of 622/sqmi. The racial makeup of the city was 90.6% White, 0.9% Black or African American, 0.7% Asian, 0.6% Native American, 1.6% from other races, and 5.5% from two or more races. Ethnically, the population was 5.7% Hispanic or Latino of any race.
2010 census
As of the census[15] of 2010, there were 5,461 people, 2,227 households, and 1,426 families residing in the city. The population density was 1319.1PD/sqmi. There were 2,410 housing units at an average density of 582.1/sqmi. The racial makeup of the city was 94.9% White, 0.9% African American, 0.8% Native American, 0.5% Asian, 1.4% from other races, and 1.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.1% of the population.
There were 2,227 households, of which 34.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.2% were married couples living together, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.8% had a male householder with no wife present, and 36.0% were non-families. 29.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 3.01.
The median age in the city was 35.7 years. 26% of residents were under the age of 18; 7% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 29.4% were from 25 to 44; 24.8% were from 45 to 64, and 12.7% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.8% male and 51.2% female.
Arts and culture
Annual cultural events
Because Edgerton was once the center of the tobacco growing region in Wisconsin, the community's annual celebration is called Tobacco Days. The community celebration includes live music, food, family entertainment, a craft fair, an open-air market, living history events and demonstrations, tobacco demonstrations, citywide rummage sales, a men's slow pitch softball tournament, book sales, a parade, and a car show.[16] [17]
The Sterling North Book and Film Festival, which takes place annually the last weekend in September, brings together authors and filmmakers with the community.[17] [18]
Tourism
The Sterling North Home and Museum is the childhood home of authors Sterling North and Jessica Nelson North MacDonald.[19] [20] [21] North's most famous book, Rascal was set in Edgerton and he used the town as the setting for several of his books, referring to it as "Brailsford Junction."[22]
The Pomeroy and Pelton Tobacco Warehouse, known as the T. W. Dickinson & Son Tobacco Warehouse after it was purchased by Weetman Dickinson, is on the National Register of Historic Places.[23] [24] It is the oldest free-standing brick warehouse in Wisconsin.[25]
Edgerton is also known for its association with Pauline Jacobus. Jacobus and her husband, Oscar Jacobus, were responsible for the first artistic pottery created in Chicago in the mid-1880s. By 1888 the couple had moved their business to Edgerton. Although Oscar's death and an economic depression disrupted the business in the 1890s, Pauline Jacobus continued making pottery in Edgerton until the early 1900s' fire that destroyed her rural Edgerton home, "The Bogart". Much admired and sought-after as an American art form, "Pauline Pottery" is recognized in antique and art galleries throughout the world.[26] A log cabin from the old Bogart site and the factory warehouse where Pauline Pottery was first made in Edgerton still survive.[27] [28]
Notable people
- Rich Bickle, NASCAR driver[29]
- David Blanchard, former Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly[30]
- George W. Blanchard, former U.S. Representative[31]
- Burrows Burdick, former Wisconsin State Representative[32]
- Derek Carrier, NFL player for Washington Redskins and San Francisco 49ers
- Harland E. Everson, former Wisconsin State Representative[33]
- Abner S. Flagg, Wisconsin State Representative[34]
- Ryan Fox, US National Rower[35]
- Alva Garey, former Wisconsin State Senator[36]
- Lewis E. Gettle, former Wisconsin State Representative and lawyer[37]
- Edward Grassman, former Wisconsin State Representative[38]
- Pauline Jacobus, pottery artisan[27]
- Jimmy Johnson, member of the College Football Hall of Fame[39]
- Simon Lord, former Wisconsin State Senator[40]
- John T. Manske, former Wisconsin State Representative[41]
- Janet Soergel Mielke, former Wisconsin State Representative[42]
- Jessica Nelson North, author[19]
- Sterling North, author[19]
- Arielle North Olson, author[43]
- Tom Pratt, American football coach[44] [45]
- Stanley Slagg, Wisconsin State Representative and lawyer[46]
- Steve Stricker, PGA Tour golfer[47]
- Debi Towns, Wisconsin State Representative[48]
- Lawrence C. Whittet, Wisconsin State Representative[49]
- Rollie Williams, NFL player[50]
External links
Notes and References
- Web site: 2019 U.S. Gazetteer Files. United States Census Bureau. August 7, 2020.
- Web site: U.S. Census website . . 2008-01-31 .
- Web site: Term: Edgerton, Wisconsin. City-Data.com . February 13, 2014.
- http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/dictionary/index.asp?action=view&term_id=3477&search_term=edgerton Edgerton (Origin of Placename)
- Book: The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States . Govt. Print. Off. . Gannett, Henry . 1905 . 114.
- 'Wisconsin Magazine of History,' vol. 4, Wisconsin Historical Society; 1921, Biographical Sketch of Benjamin Hyde Edgerton, pg. 354-357
- Barry Adams, "http://host.madison.com/news/local/on-wisconsin-historic-tobacco-buildings-could-help-revitalize-downtown-edgerton/article_8e4dc4a8-3251-11e1-8fd2-001871e3ce6c.html[On Wisconsin: Historic tobacco buildings could help revitalize downtown Edgerton]", Wisconsin State Journal, January 3, 2012. Accessed February 16, 2014.
- Book: Scarborough, Mark Wilson. Edgerton. 2014. Arcadia Publishing. 29. 9781467110747.
- Book: Andersen, Arlow William. Rough Road to Glory: The Norwegian-American Press Speaks Out on Public Affairs, 1875 to 1925. 1990. Balch Institute Press. 36. 9780944190029.
- Book: Central Conference of American Rabbis. Year Book of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, Volume 21. 1911. Central Conference of American Rabbis. 81.
- Source: Geiger, John O. "The Edgerton Bible Case: Humphrey Desmond's Political Education of Wisconsin Catholics," Journal of Church and State, vol. 20. no. 1 (1978): 13-27; U.S. Reports 374 U.S. 203, pp. 282 & 292.
- Web site: Term: Term: Edgerton Bible Case. Wisconsin Historical Society . February 13, 2014.
- Web site: US Gazetteer files 2010 . . 2012-11-18 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120125061959/http://www.census.gov/geo/www/gazetteer/files/Gaz_places_national.txt . 2012-01-25 .
- Web site: 2020 Decennial Census: Edgerton city, Wisconsin . data.census.gov . U.S. Census Bureau . 27 July 2022.
- Web site: U.S. Census website. United States Census Bureau. 2012-11-18.
- Web site: Community Events 2013. Edgerton Chamber of Commerce. February 13, 2014.
- Book: Mark Wilson Scarboroug. Edgerton. 2014. Arcadia Publishing. 9. 9781467110747.
- Web site: Sterling North Book and Film Festival website . 29 Jul 2013 .
- Book: Holden, Greg. The Booklover's Guide to the Midwest: A Literary Tour. 2011. ReadHowYouWant.com. 369. 9781459618312.
- Web site: STERLING NORTH SOCIETY, LTD. (CPL). Wisconsin Historical Society. February 13, 2014.
- Web site: Sterling North Home & Museum. Wisconsin Historical Society. February 13, 2014.
- Web site: Sterling North, Wisconsin storyteller. Wisconsin Historical Society. February 13, 2014.
- Web site: WISCONSIN - Rock County. National Register of Historic Places. February 13, 2014.
- Web site: Pomeroy and Pelton Tobacco Warehouse. Wisconsin Architecture & History Inventory. 2009-07-05.
- News: Tobacco City U.S.A.. Geocaching. 2018-11-14. en.
- Web site: Art Pottery in Edgerton: History and Resources. 5 March 2008 . Wisconsin Object. February 13, 2014.
- Web site: Pauline Bogart Jacobus . Museum of Wisconsin Art. February 13, 2014.
- Web site: Pauline Pottery. Wisconsin Pottery . February 13, 2014.
- Web site: Rich Bickle. Racing-Reference.com. February 13, 2014.
- Book: Wisconsin. Legislature. Senate. Journal of Proceeding. 1962. Legislative Reference Bureau. 142.
- Web site: BLANCHARD, George Washington, (1884 - 1964). Biographocal Directory of the United States Congress. February 13, 2014.
- Wisconsin Blue Book 1866, p. 98
- Web site: Term: Everson, Harland E. 1917. Wisconsin Historical Society. February 13, 2014.
- Henry Casson (ed.). The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin. Milwaukee: Henry Gugler Company, 1897, pp. 693-694.
- Web site: Ryan Fox . USRowing . February 13, 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20131203221209/http://www.usrowing.org/Pressbox/AthleteBios/RyanFox.aspx . December 3, 2013 .
- Book: Legislative Reference Bureau. Wisconsin Blue Book, 192. 1923. Legislative Reference Bureau. 610. Alva Garey edgerton wi..
- 'Wisconsin Blue Book 1911,' Biographical Sketch of Louis E. Gettle, pg. 770
- Book: Wisconsin. Legislature. Legislative Council. Report of the Wisconsin Legislative Council, Volume 3, Part 1. 1950. Legislative Reference Bureau. iv.
- Book: LaTourette, Larry LaTourette. Northwestern Wildcat Football. 2005. Arcadia Publishing. 16. 9780738534336.
- Book: David Atwood, State Printer. Blue Book for the State of Wisconsin, Volume 22. 1883. David Atwood, State Printer. 478.
- Web site: Manske, John T. 1952. Wisconsin Historical Society. 2011-12-17. October 16, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181016165020/https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/dictionary/index.asp?action=view&term_id=2047&term_type_id=1&term_type_text=people&letter=M. dead.
- 'Wisconsin Blue Book 1973,' Biographical Sketch of Janet Soergel Mielke, pg. 53
- Web site: Children's book author recognized for work. The Sun. 9 September 2008 . February 13, 2014.
- News: Pratt, Native of Edgerton, Is Chiefs' Defensive Coach . Janesville Daily Gazette . October 18, 1966 . February 9, 2016 . Pett, R. M. . 12 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160209232124/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/11457000/ . February 9, 2016 .
- Web site: TOM PRATT . profootballarchives.com . February 9, 2016 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160215203451/http://www.profootballarchives.com/prat01200coach.html . February 15, 2016 .
- 'Wisconsin Blue Book 1929,' Biographical Sketch of Stanley Slagg, pg. 572
- Web site: Golf Digest. My Town: Steve Stricker's Madiso. February 13, 2014.
- 'Wisconsin Blue Book 2003-2004, Biographical Sketch of Debi Towns, pg. 49
- 'Wisconsin Blue Book 1917, Biographical Sketch of Lawrence C. Whittet, pg. 548-549
- Web site: Rollie Williams . databaseFootball.com . February 13, 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140222204310/http://www.databasefootball.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=WILLIROL01 . February 22, 2014 .