Mount Vernon, Wisconsin
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Mount Vernon is an
unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
in the town of Springdale,
Dane County Dane County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 561,504, making it the second-most populous county in Wisconsin after Milwaukee County, Wiscon ...
,
Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
, United States.


History

The "Big Spring" on the Mount Vernon Creek branch of the Sugar River is located in what is now Donald Park. The "Big Spring" has been known since at least the 1800s and is one of the features that made Mount Vernon an attractive place for settlement. A cabin built near the "Big Spring" is currently the subject of an archaeological dig and dates from the 1840s. The cabin is believed to be the home of the George Patchin family who were the first Western settlers in the area after migrating from Ohio in 1846. In 1847, the Britts family acquired 200 acres of land in the area and built a mill on the river. Having migrated from Virginia, the Britt family named their settlement Mount Vernon after Mount Vernon, Virginia. The village was platted in 1850. By 1852, there were 12 families living in Mount Vernon. The Hotel De Allen, which had a saloon and a stable, was built on the West side of the river. In 1858, a
grist mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...
was built on the river. Farmers from the region brought grain into town to have it milled and bought supplies from the general store. Men hauling lead from Western Wisconsin to Milwaukee often stayed in town as well. In 1852, much of the Britts land and additional adjoining lands were acquired by Dr. Philander Byam and his two brothers, and Byam's Addition to Mount Vernon was platted. The Byams came to be infamous for their fraudulent business dealings. They sold to local farmers worthless "patent rights." They also sold village lots for exorbitant prices to buyers in New York State using false and misleading sales materials. In one example, they showed a picture of Mount Vernon with a large settlement and a steamboat on the Sugar River. The river is actually only 15–20 feet wide and 1–2 feet deep in most areas. On October 24, 1859, a group of approximately 70 residents held a meeting, and the group proceeded to Dr. Byam's residence to request his attendance at the meeting. Dr. Byam's wife falsely claimed that he was not at home, so the citizens began to tear down Dr. Byam's house until he eventually came outside. The group proceeded to the mill where a trial was held. The verdict was that the Byams were given the option to leave within 24 hours or to stay and be hanged. One of the Byam brothers was tarred and feathered. The Byams left town the next morning, but one of the brothers returned the next day for a load of hay. The townspeople spotted him and burned the hay wagon. By 1880, the village had over 100 residents. Local businesses included two hotels with saloons, a leather goods and tanning shop, the general store, a shoe shop, a blacksmith shop, and a slaughter house. Today, the community consists of several homes and small businesses, a church, and a small park.


Geography

Mount Vernon is located south of
Mount Horeb Mount Horeb (; Hebrew: ''Har Ḥōrēḇ''; Greek in the Septuagint: , ''Chōrēb''; Latin in the Vulgate: ') is the mountain at which the Ten Commandments were given to Moses by God, according to the Book of Deuteronomy in the Hebrew Bible. I ...
and southwest of
Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States * Madison (footballer), Brazilian footballer Places in the United States Populated places * Madi ...
, at the intersection of County Highway G and
Wisconsin Highway 92 State Trunk Highway 92 (often called Highway 92, STH-92 or WIS 92) is a state highway in Green and Dane counties in the south-central area of the US state of Wisconsin that runs north–south from Mount Horeb to near Brooklyn. Route descript ...
. It occupies land on the eastern edge of Wisconsin's
Driftless Area The Driftless Area, also known as Bluff Country and the Paleozoic Plateau, is a topographic and cultural region in the Midwestern United States that comprises southwestern Wisconsin, southeastern Minnesota, northeastern Iowa, and the extreme ...
, and is bordered on two sides by Donald Park, a county park at the headwaters of the Sugar River.


Notable people

* Emma Amelia Cranmer, temperance reformer, woman suffragist, writer *
Herman Dahle Herman Bjorn Dahle (March 30, 1855 – April 25, 1920) was a two-term United States Congressman from Wisconsin from 1899 to 1903. Background Herman Bjorn Dahle was born in the town of Perry, Wisconsin, Perry, Dane County, Wisconsin. He received ...
- U.S. Representative * John Donald - Wisconsin politician and dentist * Fred Haefliger - highly decorated
U.S. Marine The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...


Notes

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Dane County, Wisconsin Unincorporated communities in Wisconsin Madison, Wisconsin, metropolitan statistical area