Adams County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

in the U.S. state of

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 ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 20,654. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

Friendship Friendship is a Interpersonal relationship, relationship of mutual affection between people. It is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an "acquaintance" or an "association", such as a classmate, neighbor, coworker, or colleague. Althoug ...

. The county was created in 1848 and organized in 1853. Sources differ as to whether its name is in honor of the second

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before Presidency of John Adams, his presidency, he was a leader of ...

, or his son, the sixth President,

John Quincy Adams John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was the sixth president of the United States, serving from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States secretary of state from 1817 to 1825. During his long diploma ...

. The county is considered a high-recreation retirement destination by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

History

The founders of Adams County were from

upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region of New York (state), New York that lies north and northwest of the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area of downstate New York. Upstate includes the middle and upper Hudson Valley, ...

. These people were " Yankee" settlers, that is to say they were largely descended from the English Separatists who settled

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

in the 1600s. They were part of a wave of

farmers who headed west into what was then the wilds of the

Northwest Territory The Northwest Territory, also known as the Old Northwest and formally known as the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, was formed from part of the unorganized western territory of the United States after the American Revolution. Established ...

during the early 1800s. Most of them arrived as a result of the completion of the

Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east–west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigability, navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, ...

and the end of the Black Hawk War. They got to what is now Adams County by sailing up the Wisconsin River from the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

on small barges which they constructed themselves out of materials obtained from the surrounding woodlands. When they arrived in what is now Adams County, there was nothing but dense virgin forest, the " Yankee" New Englanders laid out farms, constructed roads, erected government buildings, and established post routes. They brought with them many of their Yankee

values, such as a passion for education, establishing many schools as well as staunch support for abolitionism. They were mostly members of the Congregationalist Church though some were Episcopalian. Due to the second Great Awakening, some of them had converted to

Methodism Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

and some became

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

before moving to what is now Adams County. Adams County, like much of

, would be culturally very continuous with early

culture for most of its early history.The Yankee Exodus: An Account of Migration from New England by Stewart Hall Holbrook University of Washington Press, 1968 In the late 1880s, German immigrants began to settle in Adams County, making up less than one out of thirty settlers in the county before this date. Generally there was little conflict between them and the " Yankee" settlers, however when conflict did arise it focused around the issue of prohibition of alcohol. On this issue the Yankees were divided and the Germans almost unanimously were opposed to it, tipping the balance in favor of opposition to prohibition. Later the two communities would be divided on the issue of World War I in which, once again, the Yankee community would be divided and the Germans were unanimously opposed to American entry into the war. The Yankee community was generally pro-British, however many of the Yankees also did not want America to enter the war themselves. The Germans were sympathetic to Germany and did not want the United States to enter into a war against Germany, but the Germans were not anti-British. Prior to World War I, many German community leaders in Wisconsin spoke openly and enthusiastically about how much better America was than Germany, due primarily (in their eyes) to the presence of English law and the English political culture the Americans had inherited from the colonial era, which they contrasted with the turmoil and oppression in Germany which they had so recently fled. The area covered by present-day Adams County was historically part of several other counties. In 1840, when Wisconsin was still a territory, Adams County was the southwestern section of Brown County. In 1836, Portage County was created and included most of present-day Columbia County, including the city of Portage, Wisconsin. In 1846, Portage County was renamed Columbia County. The area from the northern boundary of Columbia County to Lake Superior was removed from Brown County and was then called Portage County. In 1848, the southern part of Portage County was renamed Adams County and included all of current-day Adams County and the northern section of Juneau County. Adams County was organized in April 1853. In 1858, The northwestern part of Adams County was joined with the northern part of Sauk County to form present-day Juneau County. At this time, Adams County took its current shape.

was founded by settlers coming from Friendship, New York. Today, Adams is the largest community in Adams County, but this was not always so. In the 1880s, there were plans for a railroad that connected

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and St. Paul to pass through Friendship. Once this was decided, local landowners increased their demands. Instead of paying more for the land in Friendship, the railroad placed the tracks south of Friendship. It was recorded that Emma Barnes, wife of "Appletree" Barnes, Friendship postmaster in the 1920s, wrote in 1957, "I believe that the people of Friendship should express their appreciation of two of the early citizens... J. B. Hill and J. W. Purves... for holding the price of their land so high that the great C&NW R.R. Co. would not purchase a right of way... for who would enjoy the smoke and the noise of a train running through this beautiful village?" To house workers, boxcars were stacked to form housing, and the town of Adams was created. What is now the city of Adams the railroad originally called Friendship, but because there were two rail depot stops named "Friendship" on the rail-line, passengers were often confused and bought the wrong tickets, so it was suggested that the name be changed. The new name was determined by the citizens who chose between Adams, for President

, and Nottingham. This stretch of track became the famous "400" route. Today the population of Adams is about three times that of Friendship, WI.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (6.2%) is water.

Major highways

* Highway 13 (Wisconsin) * Highway 21 (Wisconsin) * Highway 23 (Wisconsin) * Highway 73 (Wisconsin) * Highway 82 (Wisconsin)

Railroads

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad is a Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United States after BNSF, ...

Airport

* 63C - Adams County Airport serves the county and surrounding communities.

Adjacent counties

* Wood County – northwest * Portage County – northeast * Waushara County – east * Marquette County – east * Columbia County – southeast * Sauk County – southwest * Juneau County – west

Demographics

2020 census

As of the census of 2020, the population was 20,654. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 16,692 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 90.7%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 2.9%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 1.0% Native American, 0.4% Asian, 1.1% from other races, and 3.9% from two or more races. Ethnically, the population was 3.9%

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race.

2000 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 18,643 people, 7,900 households, and 5,466 families residing in the county. The

was . There were 14,123 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 97.63%

, 0.27%

, 0.59% Native American, 0.33% Asian, 0.02%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.33% from other races, and 0.83% from two or more races. 1.44% of the population were

or Latino of any race. 39.3% were of German, 14.8% American, 9.2% Polish, 8.3% Norwegian, 8.0% Irish and 6.0% English ancestry. 96.1% spoke English, 1.8% Spanish and 1.1% German as their first language. There were 7,900 households, out of which 23.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.50% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 6.70% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.80% were non-families. 25.50% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.33 and the average family size was 2.76. In the county, the population was spread out, with 20.80% under the age of 18, 5.60% from 18 to 24, 24.30% from 25 to 44, 28.40% from 45 to 64, and 20.90% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females there were 102.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.30 males. In 2017, there were 131 births, giving a general fertility rate of 57.1 births per 1000 women aged 15–44, the 17th lowest rate out of all 72 Wisconsin counties. 51 of the births were to unmarried mothers, 80 were to married mothers. In 2017, 12.2% of the babies had a low birthweight, up from 7.8% in 2016 and the highest by percent in the state for 2017. In 71.0% of cases, prenatal care was deemed to be adequate, the 13th lowest in the state. Additionally, there were 10 induced abortions performed on women of Adams County residence in 2017.Reported Induced Abortions in Wisconsin
Office of Health Informatics, Division of Public Health, Wisconsin Department of Health Services. Section: Trend Information, 2013-2017, Table 18, pages 17-18

Communities

''Bracketed number refers to location on map, right''

Cities

* Adams (7) * Wisconsin Dells (also in Columbia County, Juneau County, and Sauk County) (9)

Village

(6) (county seat)

Towns

* Adams * Big Flats * Colburn * Dell Prairie * Easton * Jackson * Leola * Lincoln * Monroe * New Chester *

New Haven New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Co ...

* Preston * Quincy * Richfield *

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

* Springville * Strongs Prairie