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Edgerton, Wisconsin

"Fulton Station" redirects here. For the current train station in Kentucky, see Fulton station.

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.[3] 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,[5] Edgerton continues to be a center for the declining tobacco industry in the area.

Edgerton, Wisconsin
City
Fulton Street in downtown Edgerton
Fulton Street in downtown Edgerton
Motto: 
"Tobacco City U.S.A."
Location of Edgerton in Rock County, Wisconsin.
Location of Edgerton in Rock County, Wisconsin.
Coordinates: 42°50′10″N 89°4′23″W / 42.83611°N 89.07306°W / 42.83611; -89.07306
Country United States
State Wisconsin
CountiesRock, Dane
Area
[1]
 • Total
4.16 sq mi (10.78 km2)
 • Land4.16 sq mi (10.77 km2)
 • Water0.00 sq mi (0.01 km2)
Elevation
[2]
817 ft (249 m)
Population
 (2020)[3]
 • Total
5,945
 • Density1,429.4/sq mi (551.9/km2)
Time zoneUTC-6 (Central (CST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-5 (CDT)
Zip Code
53534
Area code608
FIPS code55-22575[4]
GNIS feature ID1564443[2]
Websitewww.cityofedgerton.com

History

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Originally called Fulton Station, Edgerton was named after a 19th-century businessman, Elisha W. Edgerton,[6][7] or his brother Benjamin Hyde Edgerton, a civil engineer.[8]

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.[9] 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,[10] the hotel (which burned to the ground in the 1990s) was frequented by tobacco buyers and sellers.

 
Tobacco warehouse in Edgerton

Edgerton Bible case

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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 public schools.[11]

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 overruled the circuit court on March 18, 1890, concluding that reading the Bible did—in fact—constitute sectarian instruction and thus illegally united the functions of church and state.[12]

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.[13][14]

Geography

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According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.14 square miles (10.72 km2), all of it land.[15] 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

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Historical population
CensusPop.Note%±
1880869—
18901,59583.5%
19002,19237.4%
19102,51314.6%
19202,6887.0%
19302,9068.1%
19403,26612.4%
19503,5077.4%
19604,00014.1%
19704,1183.0%
19804,3355.3%
19904,254−1.9%
20004,93316.0%
20105,46110.7%
20205,9458.9%
U.S. Decennial Census[16]

2020 census

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As of the census of 2020,[3] the population was 5,945. The population density was 1,429.4 inhabitants per square mile (551.9/km2). There were 2,587 housing units at an average density of 622.0 per square mile (240.2/km2). 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

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As of the census[17] of 2010, there were 5,461 people, 2,227 households, and 1,426 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,319.1 inhabitants per square mile (509.3/km2). There were 2,410 housing units at an average density of 582.1 per square mile (224.8/km2). 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

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Annual cultural events

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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.[18][19]

The Sterling North Book and Film Festival, which takes place annually the last weekend in September, brings together authors and filmmakers with the community.[19][20]

Tourism

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The Sterling North Home and Museum is the childhood home of authors Sterling North and Jessica Nelson North MacDonald.[21][22][23] 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".[24]

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.[25][26] It is the oldest free-standing brick warehouse in Wisconsin.[27]

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 a fire in the early 1900s 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.[28] A log cabin from the old Bogart site and the factory warehouse where Pauline Pottery was first made in Edgerton still survive.[29][30]

Notable people

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References

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  1. ^ "2019 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  2. ^ a b U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Edgerton, Wisconsin
  3. ^ a b c "2020 Decennial Census: Edgerton city, Wisconsin". data.census.gov. U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
  4. ^ "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
  5. ^ "Term: Edgerton, Wisconsin". City-Data.com. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  6. ^ Edgerton (Origin of Placename)
  7. ^ Gannett, Henry (1905). The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States. Govt. Print. Off. pp. 114.
  8. ^ 'Wisconsin Magazine of History,' vol. 4, Wisconsin Historical Society; 1921, Biographical Sketch of Benjamin Hyde Edgerton, pg. 354-357
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ Scarborough, Mark Wilson (2014). Edgerton. Arcadia Publishing. p. 29. ISBN 9781467110747.
  11. ^ Andersen, Arlow William (1990). Rough Road to Glory: The Norwegian-American Press Speaks Out on Public Affairs, 1875 to 1925. Balch Institute Press. p. 36. ISBN 9780944190029.
  12. ^ Central Conference of American Rabbis (1911). Year Book of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, Volume 21. Central Conference of American Rabbis. p. 81.
  13. ^ 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.
  14. ^ "Term: Term: Edgerton Bible Case". Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  15. ^ "US Gazetteer files 2010". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on January 25, 2012. Retrieved November 18, 2012.
  16. ^ "Census of Population and Housing". Census.gov. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
  17. ^ "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved November 18, 2012.
  18. ^ "Community Events 2013". Edgerton Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  19. ^ a b Mark Wilson Scarboroug (2014). Edgerton. Arcadia Publishing. p. 9. ISBN 9781467110747.
  20. ^ "Sterling North Book and Film Festival website". Retrieved July 29, 2013.
  21. ^ a b c Holden, Greg (2011). The Booklover's Guide to the Midwest: A Literary Tour. ReadHowYouWant.com. p. 369. ISBN 9781459618312.
  22. ^ "STERLING NORTH SOCIETY, LTD. (CPL)". Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  23. ^ "Sterling North Home & Museum". Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  24. ^ "Sterling North, Wisconsin storyteller". Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  25. ^ "WISCONSIN - Rock County". National Register of Historic Places. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  26. ^ "Pomeroy and Pelton Tobacco Warehouse". Wisconsin Architecture & History Inventory. Retrieved July 5, 2009.
  27. ^ Geocaching. "Tobacco City U.S.A." Retrieved November 14, 2018.
  28. ^ "Art Pottery in Edgerton: History and Resources". Wisconsin Object. March 5, 2008. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  29. ^ a b "Pauline Bogart Jacobus". Museum of Wisconsin Art. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  30. ^ "Pauline Pottery". Wisconsin Pottery. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  31. ^ "Rich Bickle". Racing-Reference.com. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  32. ^ Wisconsin. Legislature. Senate (1962). Journal of Proceeding. Legislative Reference Bureau. p. 142.
  33. ^ "BLANCHARD, George Washington, (1884 - 1964)". Biographocal Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  34. ^ Wisconsin Blue Book 1866, p. 98
  35. ^ "Term: Everson, Harland E. 1917". Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  36. ^ Henry Casson (ed.). The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin. Milwaukee: Henry Gugler Company, 1897, pp. 693-694.
  37. ^ "Ryan Fox". USRowing. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  38. ^ Legislative Reference Bureau (1923). Wisconsin Blue Book, 192. Legislative Reference Bureau. p. 610. Alva Garey edgerton wi.
  39. ^ 'Wisconsin Blue Book 1911,' Biographical Sketch of Louis E. Gettle, pg. 770
  40. ^ Wisconsin. Legislature. Legislative Council (1950). Report of the Wisconsin Legislative Council, Volume 3, Part 1. Legislative Reference Bureau. p. iv.
  41. ^ LaTourette, Larry LaTourette (2005). Northwestern Wildcat Football. Arcadia Publishing. p. 16. ISBN 9780738534336.
  42. ^ David Atwood, State Printer (1883). Blue Book for the State of Wisconsin, Volume 22. David Atwood, State Printer. p. 478.
  43. ^ "Manske, John T. 1952". Wisconsin Historical Society. Archived from the original on October 16, 2018. Retrieved December 17, 2011.
  44. ^ 'Wisconsin Blue Book 1973,' Biographical Sketch of Janet Soergel Mielke, pg. 53
  45. ^ "Children's book author recognized for work". The Sun. September 9, 2008. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  46. ^ Pett, R. M. (October 18, 1966). "Pratt, Native of Edgerton, Is Chiefs' Defensive Coach". Janesville Daily Gazette. p. 12. Archived from the original on February 9, 2016. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
  47. ^ "TOM PRATT". profootballarchives.com. Archived from the original on February 15, 2016. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
  48. ^ 'Wisconsin Blue Book 1929,' Biographical Sketch of Stanley Slagg, pg. 572
  49. ^ "Golf Digest". My Town: Steve Stricker's Madiso. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  50. ^ 'Wisconsin Blue Book 2003-2004, Biographical Sketch of Debi Towns, pg. 49
  51. ^ 'Wisconsin Blue Book 1917, Biographical Sketch of Lawrence C. Whittet, pg. 548-549
  52. ^ "Rollie Williams". databaseFootball.com. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
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