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.
The 1860s
Beloit
- April 5, 1860 First issue of the consolidated Journal and Courier appeared.
- December 1860 C. Mann bought out Bristol and started the "Rock County Republican."
- January 1, 1860 The Beloit Herald's name was changed to the Beloit Courier, and the firm became Perkins & Smith (P10 says "about January 1"; P208 says "on January 1").
- October 7, 1860 Edward Franklin Hansen was born at Beloit.
Rock County
- March 8, 1860 The Milton Anti-Horse-Thief Association was organized (P217 says "Early in 1860").
- October 20, 1860 Mr. Gray retired from the Rock Qovnty Badger and was succeeded by Gen.
- September 1860 The "Janesville Democrat" weekly was started.
- December 1860 The "Janesville Democrat" was changed to the "Rock County Republican."
Nation and world
- November 6, 1860 A sheriff took office (listed as Alden, November 6, 1860).
- November 16, 1860 There were twenty-four paupers in the Poor House.
- Fall 1860 Business, industry and institutions:
Faces from the record
Engraved portraits from the county histories of 1879 and 1908. A different dozen each day.
