Two additional wards (Fifth and Sixth) were created in Janesville by legislative enactment.

The evidence

• “In 1857, two additional wards were created by Legislative enactment; the Fifth Ward from territory included in the Third and Fourth Wards, and the Sixth Ward from territory included in the Second Ward. The act providing for the creation of the Fifth Ward also created the office of Street Commissioner, the election of which was ordered at the election for city officers next ensuing, which fell on the 7th day of April, 1857, and resulted as follows ;”

  1879-history-of-rock-county/14-rock-county-ch08-janesville.md, PDF p. 533 / book p. 537

  Butterfield, C. W., et al. The History of Rock County, Wisconsin: its early settlement, growth, development, resources, etc. Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1879. Cornell University Library via the Internet Archive, archive.org/details/cu31924028871585.

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

  

• “In 1857 two additional wards were added to the four previously formed—the Fifth, on the west side of the river, and the Sixth, out of the Second and Third, on the east side. Aldermen of these wards were elected, but at the next session of the legislature the new wards were abolished and the city remained divided into four wards until 1871, when the Fifth ward was again established and still remains.”

  1908-brown-rock-county/26-history-of-janesville.md, Vol. 2, PDF p. 40 / book p. 553

  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