The part of the Van Buren town site in Rock county was sold under its government designation, and thereafter conveyed as farming land.

The evidence

• “Van Buren was laid out upon both sides of Badfish creek, and upon each side of the creek a wide space was reserved for "hydraulic purposes," as stated upon the map of the town site. Some few conveyances of lots were made during several years succeeding the date of the plat, but as early as 1843 that part of the town site in Rock county was sold under the government designation of the north half of the northeast quarter of section 1 in town 4 north of range 10 east, and the land upon which Van Buren had been laid out has ever since been conveyed as farming land and used for farming purposes.”

  1908-brown-rock-county/04-forgotten-places.md, Vol. 1, PDF p. 60 / book p. 50

  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