3156 S Riverside Dr · Beloit, Wisconsin

Once upon a house — and every word of it on the record.

One piece of land beside the Rock River: the Ho-Chunk village of Standing Post, the trader Joseph Thibault, the Blodgetts who founded Beloit, William S. Yost's farm and cobblestone house, the Yost Park resort, and the Riverside Motel built around it. Every event below links to the page of the source that records it.

Why this place matters →

The 1917 atlas prints "John A. Yost" on the land beside the Rock River, with Yost Park on lot L-7.

The land through time

…–1835
The first people
The Ho-Chunk village of Standing Post beside the Rock River.
"Indian Manufactures": a canoe, tools and garments of the upper Great Lakes nations, engraved for Schoolcraft's journal of 1821. Not specific to the Ho-Chunk.
Source
Schoolcraft, Henry R. Narrative Journal of Travels through the Northwestern Regions of the United States, Extending from Detroit through the Great Chain of American Lakes, to the Sources of the Mississippi River, Performed as a Member of the Expedition under Governor Cass, in the Year 1820. Albany: E. & E. Hosford, 1821. Library of Congress copy via the Internet Archive, archive.org/details/narrativejournal01scho.
1634–1836
Contact and the fur trade
French, British and American traders; Joseph Thibault.
Sault de Ste. Marie, engraved for Schoolcraft's account of the 1820 Cass expedition through the fur-trade country.
Source
Schoolcraft, Henry R. Narrative Journal of Travels through the Northwestern Regions of the United States, Extending from Detroit through the Great Chain of American Lakes, to the Sources of the Mississippi River, Performed as a Member of the Expedition under Governor Cass, in the Year 1820. Albany: E. & E. Hosford, 1821. Library of Congress copy via the Internet Archive, archive.org/details/narrativejournal01scho.
1836–1843
The Blodgetts
Caleb Blodgett buys Thibault's claim; Selvey K. Blodgett farms the land.
"A Map of Beloit": the early village beside the Rock River, reproduced in Brown's Rock County, Wisconsin (1908).
1843–1897
The Yost farm
William S. Yost settles, farms and builds the cobblestone house.
"Wm. S. Yost" on the 1858 map of Beloit Township, Sections 11 and 12.
1898–1930
Yost Park
The riverside resort: picnics, dances and the interurban.
"Yost Park" lettered by the river on the 1904 plat, beside John A. Yost's Park Stock Farm.

Span:1634–1860 1800–1860 1820–1850 1835–1845 1860–1930Detail:Highlights More Everything

1820

The region

+1 more

Nation and world

May 11, 1820 An act was approved reviving the powers of the commissioners for ascertaining and deciding on claims in the district of Detroit, and for settling claims to land at Green Bay and Prairie du Chien, in the territory of Michigan.

1822

The region

Nation and world

1822 The Sacs and Foxes concluded a treaty with the United States by which they relinquished their right to have the United States establish a trading house or factory, and were paid one thousand dollars in merchandise.

1823

Beloit

1823 1823 (about; the passage gives "about 1823 or 182J") — Thiebault, a French-Canadian trader, made his home at what is now Beloit.

The region

Nation and world

1824

The property

1824 Thiebault, a Frenchman, established himself at the Turtle village, probably about this year.

The region

Nation and world

Eras	The first people Contact and the fur trade
Ring	1820	1821	1822	1823	1824
The property					1824 Thiebault, a Frenchman, established himself at the Turtle village, probably about this year.
Beloit				1823 1823 (about; the passage gives "about 1823 or 182J") — Thiebault, a French-Canadian trader, made his home at what is now Beloit.
Rock County
The region	1820 The Winnebagoes had five villages on Winnebago lake and fourteen on Rock river. Spring 1820 A garrison/community located on the rich bottomlands along the south bank of the St. Peter's removed to an eminence on the west bank of t… Fall 1820 The expedition party, on its return down the lake, was becalmed near the islands in Lake Erie; Schoolcraft took a boat accompanied by Maj… May 1820 The expedition party traveled by canal and steamboat. +1 more		1822 White miners invaded the lead regions formerly worked by Sauks and Foxes, as they had begun to in 1821; the Winnebagoes were in possessio… 1822 White miners were working the lead mines under the protection of United States troops. 1822 Migration to Wisconsin from the State of New York of the remains or portions of the Oneida, Stockbridge, Munsee and Brothertown tribes co… 1822 The Stockbridge Indians immigrated to Wisconsin lands and occupied the country about Winnebago lake.	Summer 1823 Summer 1823 — Squatters began taking possession of the rich land occupied by the Sacs toward the mouth of Rock river. Fall 1823 Autumn 1823 — In company with his father, a man erected a saw-mill on the Vandermark Creek; a second passage states that the father came … 1823 1823 — Rev. Eleazar Williams, in the employ of the Episcopal Missionary Society, started a school of white and half-breed children on the…	1824 A good sized two-story house on Vandermark creek was enclosed. 1824 The lead ore in the southwestern part of Wisconsin began to attract attention. 1824 Henry S. Baird, of Brown county, was appointed district attorney.
Nation and world	May 11, 1820 An act was approved reviving the powers of the commissioners for ascertaining and deciding on claims in the district of Detroit, and for …		1822 The Sacs and Foxes concluded a treaty with the United States by which they relinquished their right to have the United States establish a…	March 1823 March 3, 1823 — An act of congress was approved authorizing the electors of the Territory of Michigan to choose eighteen by ballot at the… January 1823 January 1823 — An act of Congress provided for a district court and the appointment of a judge for the counties of Brown, Crawford and Mi…	May 2, 1824 Congress granted quarter sections of land to counties for seats of justice / county buildings; the two passages give different approval d… 1824 Major Long's expedition took place. 1824 The Sacs and Foxes sold to the General Government all their lands in Missouri north of the Missouri river, receiving one thousand dollars…