British Hollow is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

originally located in the northeastern corner of the

Town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

of Potosi,

Grant County, Wisconsin Grant County is a county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 51,938. Its county seat is Lancaster. The county is named after the Grant River, in turn named after a fur trader who lived in the area ...

, United States.

History

The first white residents were Terence Coyle and his family, who built a cabin there and were in permanent occupancy by the spring of 1832. In 1836, when Grant County was organized, it was made a separate precinct from the rest of Potosi, and named Pleasant Valley, a name which it still held at the time of the passage of the original (1848)

Constitution of Wisconsin The Constitution of the State of Wisconsin is the governing document of the U.S. State of Wisconsin. It establishes the structure and function of state government, describes the state boundaries, and declares the rights of state citizens. The W ...

. It is unclear where the name "British Hollow" came from; it may have been to distinguish this settlement from the nearby Dutch Hollow, whose inhabitants were primarily

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

in origin. Grant County Wisconsin Civil Divisions 1843 Map

At one time British Hollow (sometimes shortened to British) (which by 1848 also included most of Harrison, Grant County, Wisconsin and the north half of Paris, Grant County, Wisconsin townships) had several stores, a brewery (which went out of business about 1885), and a

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

. The old "precinct" was abolished by 1860; and by 1900, British Hollow had declined to one store (with post office), one church, one school, and three saloons.Holford, Castello N. ''History of Grant County, Wisconsin: Including Its Civil, Political, Geological, Mineralogical, Archaeological and Military History, and a History of the Several Towns'' Lancaster, Wisconsin: The Teller Print, 1900; pp. 135, 539-540

Notes

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Grant County, Wisconsin Unincorporated communities in Wisconsin 1832 establishments in Michigan Territory