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

1843

Beloit

May 15, 1843 The Moseley family reached Beloit.
1843 The Winslow family came to Beloit.
May 1843 Benjamin Brown joined the Congregational church in Beloit.
July 3, 1843 Rev. Mr. Winchell was secured to preach each alternate week (Beloit).

+20 more

Rock County

+28 more

The region

+9 more

Nation and world

December 4, 1843 Henry Dodge took his seat for his second term as delegate at the commencement of the first session of the twenty-eighth Congress.
August 12, 1843 The Clinton post office was established.
March 21, 1843 The town of Fulton was organized by act of the legislature.
March 21, 1843 The township of Johnstown was organized by act of the legislature.

+3 more

Eras	The Blodgetts The Yost farm
Ring	1843
The property
Beloit	May 15, 1843 The Moseley family reached Beloit. 1843 The Winslow family came to Beloit. May 1843 Benjamin Brown joined the Congregational church in Beloit. July 3, 1843 Rev. Mr. Winchell was secured to preach each alternate week (Beloit). +20 more
Rock County	November 1843 James Sowle came to Rock County and settled on Sec. 26, purchasing 240 acres; the land was deeded to him from the Probate Court in the fa… 1843 The subject's father moved to Rock county and settled on land his father had purchased. 1843 E. Bowerman came to Wisconsin and settled in Fulton Township, Rock Co. 1843 The Gaarder family immigrated from Norway and settled in Rock county (Plymouth Township), making the journey from Milwaukee with ox teams. +28 more
The region	April 12, 1843 An act was approved appointing commissioners to alter the Beloit–Madison road and lay out roads from Janesville to Ellis's Mill and to Mi… 1843 The log schoolhouse at the "big ford" of Rock river was used until 1843, when another log house was occupied by the school. 1843 Surveyor Willard Barrows noted Black Hawk's wigwam and grave while surveying. 1843 Thomas Quigley located and claimed sixty acres where the railroad depot later stood. +9 more
Nation and world	December 4, 1843 Henry Dodge took his seat for his second term as delegate at the commencement of the first session of the twenty-eighth Congress. August 12, 1843 The Clinton post office was established. March 21, 1843 The town of Fulton was organized by act of the legislature. March 21, 1843 The township of Johnstown was organized by act of the legislature. +3 more