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

1841

Beloit

+14 more

Rock County

+20 more

The region

+4 more

Nation and world

September 13, 1841 President Tyler appointed James Duane Doty governor of the Territory in place of Dodge; another passage gives the appointment date as September 30, 1841.
January 25, 1841 Dunn was commissioned as secretary of the Territory in place of William B. Slaughter.
December 7, 1841 Henry Dodge took his seat in Congress for the first time.
September 4, 1841 Congress approved the pre-emption law.

+8 more

Eras	The Blodgetts
Ring	1841
The property
Beloit	October 1841 A settler came to Beloit, which then had about three hundred inhabitants, all on the east side of the river. April 4, 1841 A settler arrived in Beloit on a Sunday morning, having walked from Racine in the spring of 1841. 1841 A Beloit settler went to Michigan in 1841 and then came to Wisconsin, locating at Beloit. 1841 Mr. Willard was in Beloit, living for a time in the house of Samuel B. Cooper. +14 more
Rock County	September 1841 Silas and Cynthia Hurd arrived in Rock county, settling in a log cabin on the Rock river east of Indian Ford. Fall 1841 Rollin Thorpe came to Rock County and purchased 160 acres in Sec. 11, Town 4, Range 13. Spring 1841 W. Wood came to Rock County, locating in Harmony, Sec. 1. 1841 A family came to Rock Co. and settled on 240 acres in Clinton and 120 acres in Turtle. +20 more
The region	1841 The Government sent a military detachment to enforce the removal of the Rock River Winnebagoes beyond the Mississippi. October 22, 1841 Quarter-section entries were recorded for Margaret Oles Dater (Mrs. Gullik Springen) and Erek Gulbeitson. July 12, 1841 A quarter-section entry was recorded for Geesley Saberson Hollen. October 7, 1841 A quarter-section entry was recorded for Gubrand Oleson. +4 more
Nation and world	September 13, 1841 President Tyler appointed James Duane Doty governor of the Territory in place of Dodge; another passage gives the appointment date as Sep… January 25, 1841 Dunn was commissioned as secretary of the Territory in place of William B. Slaughter. December 7, 1841 Henry Dodge took his seat in Congress for the first time. September 4, 1841 Congress approved the pre-emption law. +8 more