The chronology
The land through time
Every documented event, from the property outward: Beloit, Rock County, the region and the world. Each one links to the page of the source that records it. The record so far covers 1820–1864; more years are being added.
1856
Beloit
Rock County
- April 6, 1856 A family arrived in Rock County and settled on land purchased from Benjamin Riddle.
- 1856 Mr. Guernsey wrote the first history of Rock County (350 pages), published with Joshua F. Willard under the auspices of the Rock County Agricultural Society and Mechanics' Institute; the signed pioneer letters were first published that year.
- Spring 1856 A New England-educated settler came West and settled near Emerald Grove, Rock County.
The region
- October 1856 Property came into the possession of James H. Hanchett (held until 1863).
- 1856 The Galena & Chicago Union Railroad operated the Beloit & Madison road from 1856, in connection with the Milwaukee & Mississippi, reaching Janesville by way of Hanover Junction.
- 1856 The Racine & Mississippi (later Western Union) was graded, with 20,000 ties delivered from Porter to Rockton.
Nation and world
- March 31, 1856 An act incorporating the city of Beloit was approved (chapter 452, private and local laws of 1856); the 1879 history dates the legislature's passage of the act to March 1856.
- October 3, 1856 An act of the legislature granted the unsold congress-granted lands, through the Fox and Wisconsin Improvement company, to trustees.
- October 1856 An act approved "on the nth of the same month" granted a portion of the lands to the La Crosse & Mississippi railroad company.