Edgerton, Wisconsin

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

Edgerton is a city in Rock County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 4,933 at the 2000 census. Edgerton is known locally as "Tobacco City U.S.A." because it was at one time a front runner in the tobacco industry. There is still a fairly large tobacco crop out of the region to this day. Edgerton

Edgerton is also the childhood home of authors Sterling North, whose most famous writings are Rascal and The Wolfling, and Jessica Nelson North MacDonald. Their home is open as a museum.

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[edit] Geography and History

Location of Edgerton, Wisconsin

Edgerton is located at 42°50′10″N, 89°4′23″W (42.836108, -89.072919).GR1

This southern Wisconsin city was named after a 19th Century railroad engineer, Benjamin Hyde Edgerton. The original name of this community was Fulton Station. 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."

At one time, there were as many as 40 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 it was built by a brewing firm, the hotel (which burned to the ground in the 1990s) was frequented by tobacco buyers and sellers.

Beyond its boyhood connection to author Sterling North and its 1870s to 1930s connection as Wisconsin's premiere tobacco city, Edgerton's other major claim to fame is its association with Pauline Jacobus. Pauline 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 artform, "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.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 9.5 km² (3.7 mi²). None of the area is covered with water,except for the saunders creek, although the city is within a five-minute drive of Lake Koshkonong.

[edit] Demographics

As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 4,933 people, 1,958 households, and 1,268 families residing in the city. The population density was 519.0/km² (1,343.8/mi²). There were 2,084 housing units at an average density of 219.2/km² (567.7/mi²). 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.

[edit] Notable people from Edgerton

[edit] External links

 
Janesville, Wisconsin		 Flag of Wisconsin
Surrounding municipalities
(under 10,000)

Edgerton° | Fulton* | Harmony* | La Prairie* | Milton° | Rock* | Janesville* | Milton*
Rock County
*town °city
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