The community of Stoughton began when Luke Stoughton, a Vermont Yankee living in the Janesville area, purchased 800 acres of land nestled in a large bend of the Catfish River (now the Yahara River), on July 3, 1847 for $2100. He platted the town, built a dam, lumber mill, and general store and began to publicize his community to relatives and friends. The village grew steadily, and in 1853, Luke Stoughton offered free land to the railroad if it would pass through Stoughton. The railroad's presence assured the city's future prosperity, and made the village a center for agriculture.    (Photo: Color rendition of Yahara River dam, Stoughton, circa 1913.)

By 1868, when Stoughton became an incorporated village, the population had grown to 950, with most citizens being of Yankee descent. Most of the town lay between the river and the railroad tracks. The community's economic base was still agricultural. After the Civil War, however, a manufacturing economy began to develop, with T.G. Mandt's Wagon Works being the most important industry. A second wagon works was opened, and by World War I, over 800 men were employed.

(Photo above: Main Street, circa 1909)

T.G. Mandt, was a Norwegian and when it came time to recruit workers for his wagon factory he sponsored men from his native Norway to come and build the wagons. These men sponsored others looking for work and they often came with their wives and children and created a small but very important Norwegian community in Stoughton. These immigrants brought Norway with them, in the form of Norwegian arts, language and culture. For a while children learned to speak Norwegian first and even into the 1900's, if you wanted to do business in Stoughton, you'd best know how to speak Norwegian.

Stoughton is known as the home of the Coffee Break and the reason is due to those same Norwegian immigrants. At the same time as the prosperity afforded by the success of the wagon companies, leaf tobacco became Stoughton's important local crop, with hundreds of people, many of them women, employed in the seventeen tobacco warehouses in town. These women agreed to work on the condition that they be given a break at mid morning and mid afternoon to go home, check on the children and get dinner started. Of course, they also used that time to sit down and have a cup of coffee from the pot that was always on the stove. (Photo above: Norwegian women who demanded coffee break.)

In 1882 Stoughton incorporated as a city and over the next two decades the city boomed. 1901 saw the addition of a striking City Hall, made of red brick with a tall clock tower that could be seen from miles around. In addition to city offices the building also housed the library, the fire house, the jail and even a beautifully decorated City Auditorium. In 1908, with money from the Carnegie Foundation, a new library was built which remained in use as built until the early 1990's when an addition made the library even more spacious. (Photo right: City Hall as it stands today.)

The end of World War I marked the end of Stoughton's boom years.  The emergence of automobiles and tractors brought about the demise of the wagon factories. Tobacco growing depleted the soil, and that industry collapsed.  Then, after lean years in the 1920's and 1930's, Stoughton experienced an economic upswing, as several major industries opened. Today, the city continues to thrive, and the population has grown to over 12,000 citizens. 
(Photo left: Main St., Circa 1951)

Lake Kegonsa has long been known as a source of recreation and leisure activities for the Stoughton area. Much of the land currently known as La Follette County Park and Lake Kegonsa State Park was originally owned by John Williams from Pittsburg, who purchased it in 1860. Mr. Williams used this land primarily as recreational property. Mr. Williams was also responsible for introducing a passenger steamer that cruised Lake Kegonsa beginning in 1878. Four years later she was moved to Lake Monona.

During the 1890's the south side of Lake Kegonsa was populated with several camps, which were formed by groups of families who formed clubs and used the camps as summer retreats.  The lake was home to many rather infamous spots for fun of all sorts. In 1895, an article in the Wisconsin State Journal documented the existence of a sandbar saloon in the middle of Lake Kegonsa. Created to get around the dry towns on either side of the lake, this saloon "dispens(ed) both malt and spirituous beverages to fisherman and other thirsty individuals who visited them by boat" according to the article. Lake Kegonsa even has a claim to fame as one of the places the infamous Al Capone rented for the summer during prohibition as documented in the autobiography "I Will Build, Not Cry" by Idabelle M. Barber, daughter of Paul Barber and granddaughter of George Barber, who built and ran the sandbar saloon with a partner. (Photo left: Rock Elm Park, Lake Kegonsa Site of present day Halverson's Restaurant circa 1938)

While not quite as infamous today, Lake Kegonsa is still home to many summer folk as well as people who love to come for a day or weekend to fish, sail and swim. 

Stoughton's Victorian era history is nearly as visible today as it was at the turn of the century. Many of the best examples of our early architecture, from Luke Stoughton's home to early churches, commercial buildings and of course, our beautiful City Hall, are still available for you to see, as well as being documented in several walking tour books available at both the Stoughton Library and the Chamber of Commerce. To see more of Stoughton's historical buildings on line go to the Stoughton Landmarks website, where some of Stoughton's best examples of Victorian architecture are shown. (Alan, Please link to landmarks site here.)