Edgerton is located on the border of Dane and Rock Counties in south-central Wisconsin. The city of Edgerton's population as reported in the 2000 census was 4,933. Edgerton is known locally as "Tobacco
City U.S.A.," because of it's contribution and high production of tobacco in the
region.
Edgerton, originally called
Fulton Station, Edgerton was named after a 19th century railroad engineer,
Benjamin Hyde Edgerton. When Edgerton was approached about using his name for the city, he
recommended caution. "You better wait until after I'm dead," he told
leading citizens. "I might do something to discredit the name."
Benjamin
Hyde Edgerton, Wisconsin Pioneer: This is a short biography of civil
engineer Edgerton (1811-1886), who came to Green Bay in the early 1830s
to work as a General Land Office surveyor. In the middle of that decade
he moved to Milwaukee, lived in the home of Solomon Juneau (1793-1856),
and laid out many streets and blocks in the city's downtown. Recruited
by the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railway Co. in the early fifties, he
helped build its line across the state, and then worked on many
railroad routes across Wisconsin. The town of Edgerton, Rock County, is
named for him.*
At one time, there were as many as forty tobacco warehouses dotting the streets of Edgerton. 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, the hotel (which burned to the ground in the 1990s) was frequented by tobacco buyers and sellers.
The boyhood Home and Museum of Sterling North, world renown editor and author of Rascal, So Dear to My Heart, The Wolfling, and 28 other books
plus poetry, opens April 5 - Sunday afternoons from 1:00 to 4:30 PM -
through December 20 or by appointment. The home has been restored to
its 1917 setting and is furnished with authentic antiques. The museum
houses North's desk and typewriter and many family artifacts, photos, books and memorabilia. A restored barn and the grounds are part of the tour. Visit the gift /book shop located at 409 West Rollin St., Edgerton, WI 53534
Beyond its connection to author Sterling North's boyhood and its
onetime place as Wisconsin's premiere tobacco city, Edgerton's other
major claim to fame is 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. A log cabin from the old Bogart site and the factory warehouse where Pauline Pottery was first made in Edgerton still survive.
Come visit during Edgerton's Herritage Days July 17, 18, & 19, 2009. To learn more about this event visit www.tobaccoheritagedays.com.
Directions: from Chicago, Take I-90/39 West/Northwest to Wisconsin. Exit Hwy 59 west to city or take Hwy 51/73 south into city.
* from www.WisconsinHistory.com
** from www.SterlingNorth.com
Additional text and information from www.Wikipedia.com
