Edgerton, Wisconsin

This article is about Edgerton, Wisconsin. For other municipalities with the same name, see Edgerton

Edgerton, Wisconsin
—  City  —
Location of Edgerton, Wisconsin
Coordinates: 42°50′10″N 89°4′23″W
Country	United States
State	Wisconsin
Counties	Rock, Dane
Area
• Total	3.7 sq mi (9.5 km2)
• Land	3.7 sq mi (9.5 km2)
• Water	0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2)
Elevation	817 ft (249 m)
Population (2000)
• Total	4,933
• Density	1,343.8/sq mi (518.8/km2)
Time zone	Central (CST) (UTC-6)
• Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
Area code(s)	608
FIPS code	55-22575
GNIS feature ID	1564443

Edgerton is a city in Dane and Rock Counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 4,933 at the 2000 census. Known locally as "Tobacco City U.S.A.," because of the importance of tobacco growing in the region, Edgerton continues to be a center for the declining tobacco industry in the area.

Geography

Edgerton is located at 42°50′10″N 89°4′23″W (42.836108, -89.072919). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.7 square miles (9.5 km²). None of the area is covered with water, except for Saunders Creek, although the city is within a five-minute drive of Lake Koshkonong.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 4,933 people, 58 households, and 1,268 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,343.8 people per square mile (519.0/km²). There were 2,084 housing units at an average density of 567.7 per square mile (219.2/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 96.55% White, 0.20% African American, 0.51% Native American, 0.39% Asian, 0.89% from other races, and 1.46% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.81% of the population.

There were 1,958 households out of which 33.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.1% were married couples living together, 10.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.2% were non-families. 29.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.06.

In the city the population was spread out with 26.8% under the age of 18, 7.8% from 18 to 24, 31.3% from 25 to 44, 19.9% from 45 to 64, and 14.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 96.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.9 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $44,684, and the median income for a family was $52,555. Males had a median income of $34,890 versus $24,231 for females. The per capita income for the city was $20,481. About 3.7% of families and 5.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.9% of those under age 18 and 7.9% of those age 65 or over.

History

Originally called Fulton Station, Edgerton was named after a 19th century railroad engineer, Benjamin Hyde Edgerton.^{[citation needed]} 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."^{[citation needed]}

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 cloak room while the rest of the children listened to the reading of a Protestant version of the Bible. Because the school board refused to change their 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.

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.

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.

At one time, there were as many as forty tobacco warehouses dotting the streets of Edgerton.^{[citation needed]} 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.

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.

Another point of interest is the Pomeroy and Pelton Tobacco Warehouse, located at 1 West Fulton Street. On the National Register of Historic Places, it is the oldest free-standing brick warehouse in Wisconsin.^{[citation needed]} It is now known as the T. W. Dickinson & Son Tobacco Warehouse after it was purchased by Weetman Dickinson, an Edgerton tobacco dealer, in 1918.

Museum

The childhood home of authors Sterling North, and Jessica Nelson North MacDonald is open as a museum. Sterling North, whose most famous book, Rascal, was set in Edgerton, used the town as the setting for several of his books, where he referred to it as "Brailsford Junction."

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, book sales, and a parade. The Tobacco Days Motorcycle Show is south-central Wisconsin's largest motorcycle show.^{[citation needed]}

Notable people

• Rich Bickle, NASCAR driver
• George W. Blanchard, U.S. Representative
• Ryan Fox, US National Rower
• Pauline Jacobus, pottery artisan
• Jimmy Johnson, member of the College Football Hall of Fame
• John T. Manske, Wisconsin State Assemblyman
• Jessica Nelson North, author
• Sterling North, author
• Arielle North Olson, author
• Steve Stricker, PGA Tour golfer
• Rollie Williams, NFL player

External links

• Edgerton, Wisconsin city website
• The Sterling North Society Website with link to the Museum
• Photo of Pomeroy and Pelton (Dickinson) Tobacco Warehouse
• Edgerton Public Library