The first locomotive crossed the state line into Wisconsin at Beloit.

The evidence

• “At the first election, held in the fall of 1838, Horace Hobart was elected a justice of the peace. The first locomotive crossed the state line into Wisconsin at Beloit November 4, 1853. The first plate glass store front was that built by Benjamin Brown in the fall of 1871 at 328 and 330 State street.”

  1908-brown-rock-county/06-history-of-beloit.md, Vol. 1, PDF p. 169 / book p. 153

  Brown, William Fiske, editor. Rock County, Wisconsin: A New History of Its Cities, Villages, Towns, Citizens and Varied Interests, from the Earliest Times, Up to Date. Chicago: C. F. Cooper & Co., 1908. 2 vols. archive.org/details/rockcountywiscon01brow, archive.org/details/rockcountywiscon02brow.

  Grade A: Found on a page of one of our sources