Platteville, Wisconsin

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Downtown Platteville

Platteville is a city in Grant County, Wisconsin, which is in the southwest corner of the state. The population was 9,989 at the 2000 census.

The city is home to the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. The school is known for its education, business, agricultural, and engineering colleges.

1 History
2 Culture
3 Geography
4 Demographics
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] History

Platteville was a small farming and fur trading community along the Platte River , from which the town got its name. In the 1800s, lead was discovered in the area and a mining boom took the area by storm. During this boom, both a teacher's college and a separate mining college were founded. These two colleges later merged and became University of Wisconsin-Platteville.

After the lead mines went dry, the two colleges and the surrounding farming community kept Platteville from becoming a ghost town. Today, Platteville is mainly a college town and slowly developing into a white-collar city. The white-collar growth is due the growing number of engineering firms that are locating to Platteville to take advantage of UW-P's strong engineering program.

In the 1980s, the Chicago Bears football team held spring training camp on the campus of University of Wisconsin-Platteville. This resulted in an infusion of tens of millions of dollars into the local economy each summer. The money stopped flowing after the Bears decided to hold training camp in Illinois.

Rountree Hall apartment complex (also the former Mining school)

In 2004, the University of Wisconsin System approved University of Wisconsin-Platteville to expand its student enrollment from 5,000 to 7,500. This expansion is expected to be a huge boom to Platteville. It might even result in further evolution of the downtown district that begins only three blocks away from UW-P's campus. Some speculate that it might change Main Street into a Platteville version of State Street in Madison, Wisconsin. Madison's State Street is a social mecca for that city's student population with espresso cafes, restaurants, and specialty shops lining it and thus has kept the downtown in Madison alive and thriving. However, State Street's social mecca starts where it dead-ends into the UW campus whereas what would possibly be the social mecca area on Main Street in Platteville is three blocks away from UW-P's campus. Residential homes, a very large apartment complex, and Greek society fraternity and sorority houses line the three blocks between the UW-P campus and the downtown district. Going in the downtown's favor is the taverns in Platteville being restricted to Second Street that thus forces UW-P students to walk down Main Street to get to them. Time will tell if the coming surge in students will result in Main Street's next evolution.

Also in 2004, U.S. Highway 151 was upgraded to a limited-access superhighway and its new lanes now run further south of Platteville. Before the upgrade, US 151 cut closer to Platteville and, along the stretch that hugged Platteville, fast food restaurants sprang up and both Wal-Mart and K-Mart opened. However, Platteville has already made changes to incorporate in the new southern US 151 bypassing it. A brand-new hospital was built just north of US 151 and next to its off-ramps. There is also a new Wal-Mart supercenter near the northern end of the US 151 bypass which just recently opened.

[edit] Culture

Like most small college towns, Platteville has two different lifestyles. During the fall, winter, and spring, Platteville is a bustling college town with what seems to residents to be an overflow of college students. During the summer, the town quiets down as most students leave the campus for summer jobs.

The main source of culture in Platteville is the Center for the Arts on University of Wisconsin-Platteville's campus. The Center sponsors a steady stream of professional touring events. These performances are extremely well attended by the town's residents, especially for what passes as Platteville's high society.

[edit] Geography

Platteville is located at 42°44′13″N, 90°28′39″W (42.73707, -90.477501)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 10.9 km² (4.2 mi²). None of the area is covered with water.

Platteville is serviced by Wisconsin State Highways 80 & 81, as well as U.S. Highway 151. Originally, U.S. 151 went through the valley that made up the southern border of the city's limits, but with the completion of the four-lane limited-access superhighway, traffic has been routed on to the new highway, and as a result the highway now loops a bit more south of the city.

If you were to look at a street map of Platteville, you would find very few straight streets anywhere in it. This is because of the mining that happened in the 1800s. Underneath Platteville exists a honeycomb of abandoned old mines. City streets were built where the mines are not.

Platteville is located in the Coulee Region, and the city is situated in the rolling hills of Wisconsin.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 9,989 people, 3,312 households, and 1,692 families residing in the city. The population density was 918.3/km² (2,376.4/mi²). There were 3,482 housing units at an average density of 320.1/km² (828.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 96.15% White, 1.12% Black or African American, 0.27% Native American, 1.40% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.27% from other races, and 0.75% from two or more races. 0.88% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 3,312 households out of which 22.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.0% were married couples living together, 8.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 48.9% were non-families. 32.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 2.86.

In the city the population was spread out with 14.4% under the age of 18, 41.3% from 18 to 24, 17.5% from 25 to 44, 14.4% from 45 to 64, and 12.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 23 years. For every 100 females there were 119.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 120.6 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $35,742, and the median income for a family was $50,583. Males had a median income of $31,424 versus $21,896 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,858. About 4.6% of families and 19.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.2% of those under age 18 and 8.3% of those age 65 or over.