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.
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.
1842
Beloit
- Summer 1842 The central bridge at Beloit (a toll bridge built by a private company, a timber trestle structure framed by John P. Houston) was built over Rock River; it was later given to the village in 1844.
- February 17, 1842 The town of Beloit was constituted by an act of the territorial legislature.
- July 6, 1842 The corner stone of the "old stone church" (Congregational) was laid at the northwest corner of Broad and Prospect streets, Beloit; the edifice was erected in 1842 (built in 1842 and 1843).
- February 17, 1842 The Territorial Legislature passed an act, approved February 17, authorizing Selvy Kidder, A. L. [and others; the passage is truncated] regarding the wants of the residents of Beloit.
Rock County
- Fall 1842 A house of worship was constructed on the northeast quarter of section 35, town of Milton, and the congregation became known as the First Congregational Church of Rock County.
- July 1842 Adrien Bassett and Annie Gates came to Rock County.
- February 17, 1842 The town of Rock was organized into a separate town.
- April 5, 1842 Rock township held its first town election — the passages disagree on the date: April 5, 1842 or April 15, 1842 , when Dr. Heath was elected supervisor.
The region
- February 19, 1842 Goelick (Goelicke) Holt (Gravdal) was registered as the purchaser of land.
- September 26, 1842 Land was registered to Ole Newhouse (several parcels) and Kittel Newhouse.
- September 29, 1842 Land was registered to Abram Hobartson (Herbrand Halvorson Skavlem).
- November 25, 1842 Ole Knudson (Natesta) took title to his land.
Nation and world
- May 9, 1842 The government patent was issued to Mr. Crane for lots 6 and 7 (he had entered them in 1838 and had reconveyed them to the parties in interest before receiving the patent).
- November 9, 1842 Sleighing began, continuing until April 10, 1843.
- September 1842 Rev. Milton Bourne's pastorate (Sept. 1840 to 1842) ended and Rev. Alpha Warren's (Sept. 1842 to 1843) began.
Faces from the record
Engraved portraits from the county histories of 1879 and 1908. A different dozen each day.
Research in progress
2,413
documented events
41 years so far, 1820–1860
27
on the property itself
614 more in Beloit
9,847
people identified
across the sources
9
sources transcribed
1,456,854 words · 198 clippings