The Southern Wisconsin Railroad Company was chartered in 1852, authorized to build a road from Milton (or Janesville) to the Mississippi river; it was organized at the Stevens House in Janesville.

The evidence

• “The Southern Wisconsin railroad company was chartered in 1852, extend-”

  1856-history-of-rock-county/03-rock-county.md, PDF p. 43 / book p. 25

  Guernsey, Orrin, and Josiah F. Willard, editors. History of Rock County, and Transactions of the Rock County Agricultural Society and Mechanics' Institute. Janesville, Wis.: William M. Doty & Brother, 1856. Cornell University Library via the Internet Archive, archive.org/details/cu31924028871593.

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

  

• “In 1852, a charter was granted to the Southern Wisconsin Railroad Company, with authority to build a road from Janesville through the southern counties of Wisconsin to the Mississippi River. The incorporators were Ensign H.”

  1879-history-of-rock-county/10-rock-county-ch04-early-maps-courts-railroads.md, PDF p. 384 / book p. 388

  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 1852 the Southern Wisconsin Railway Company, afterwards the Milwaukee & Mississippi Railway Company, and merging in the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company, was organized at the Stevens House in Janesville.”

  1908-brown-rock-county/26-history-of-janesville.md, Vol. 2, PDF p. 31 / book p. 545

  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