Independence is a city in

Trempealeau County, Wisconsin Trempealeau County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,760. Its county seat is Whitehall. History Patches of woodland are all that remain of the brush and light forest that once covere ...

, United States. The population was 1,498 at the 2020 census. It is located at the confluence of Elk Creek and the Trempealeau River.

History

Unless otherwise noted, the history below is taken from a local historical album published for the city's centennial in 1976. Independence is in the Town of Burnside, which corresponds with one of the

townships A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

created under the

Land Ordinance of 1785 The Land Ordinance of 1785 was adopted by the United States Congress of the Confederation on May 20, 1785. It set up a standardized system whereby settlers could purchase title to farmland in the undeveloped west. Congress at the time did not hav ...

. Shortly after the naming of Burnside in 1863, settlers from Europe and the Eastern United States began arriving in significant numbers. The city of Independence owes its existence to a railroad and a man named David M. Kelly. Running almost parallel to the Trempealeau River is the

Green Bay and Western Railroad The Green Bay and Western Railroad served central Wisconsin for almost 100 years before it was absorbed into the Wisconsin Central Ltd., Wisconsin Central in 1993. For much of its history the railroad was also known as the Green Bay Route. At t ...

, which is part of a line originally intended to run from

Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay is a city in Brown County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the head of Green Bay (Lake Michigan), Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the F ...

Wabasha, Minnesota Wabasha is a city and the county seat of Wabasha County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 2,559 at the time of the 2020 census. It is on the Mississippi River, near its confluence with the Zumbro River. Name Wabasha is named afte ...

. Kelly was an enthusiastic promoter of building a depot for the new line in Burnside. After much disagreement and dispute over its location, Green Bay and Lake Pepin (as the company was then known) agreed to build a depot if $5,000 could be raised by the residents to finance construction. The money was raised, and Kelly bought the land for the depot in 1876. He founded a village on the land and named it Independence in honor of the nation's centennial of independence. The village was incorporated in 1885 and became a city in 1942. Independence has outlived the depot that was once at its heart. The line began at Green Bay but eventually reached

Winona, Minnesota Winona ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Winona County, Minnesota, United States. Located in bluff country on the Mississippi River, its most noticeable physical landmark is Sugar Loaf (Winona, Minnesota), Sugar Loaf. The population was 2 ...

instead of Wabasha. Passenger service was never very profitable. Under the inexorable pressure of the automobile, passenger service ended in 1949, but freight trains still use the line today.

Geography

Elk Creek and Trempealeau River confluence

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of , of which, is land and is water. It is within the Driftless Zone of the

Midwest The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

. Just upstream from the intersection between Elk Creek and the Trempealeau is the dam impounding Bugle Lake. The present dam was built in 1935 as part of the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

. It replaced an earlier dam that had been built by a resident named W.S. Newton. It later broke and flooded all of Arcadia, Wisconsin in 2011. Bugle Lake has peaceful canoeing, and a small park covers the island in the lake.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the census of 2020, the population was 1,498. 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 681 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 68.6%

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 ...

, 1.8% Native American, 1.0%

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 ...

, 0.3% Asian, 17.4% from other races, and 10.9% from two or more races. Ethnically, the population was 32.3%

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.

2010 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 2010, there were 1,336 people, 606 households, and 352 families residing in the city. The

was . There were 676 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 88.6%

, 0.1%

, 0.1% Native American, 0.4% Asian, 9.9% from other races, and 1.0% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 12.9% of the population. There were 606 households, of which 29.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.8% 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, 11.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 8.4% had a male householder with no wife present, and 41.9% were non-families. 34.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.20 and the average family size was 2.74. The median age in the city was 37.7 years. 22.3% of residents were under the age of 18; 10.4% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 25.6% were from 25 to 44; 25% were from 45 to 64; and 16.7% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 51.9% male and 48.1% female.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 1,244 people, 581 households, and 317 families residing in the city. The

was 978.8 people per square mile (378.2/km²). There were 619 housing units at an average density of 487.0 per square mile (188.2/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 98.47%

, 0.16%

, 0.16% Native American, 0.88% from other races, and 0.32% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 1.61% of the population. There were 581 households, out of which 26.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.2% were

living together, 9.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 45.4% were non-families. 38.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 20.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.13 and the average family size was 2.86. In the city, the population was spread out, with 21.9% under the age of 18, 8.7% from 18 to 24, 27.0% from 25 to 44, 20.0% from 45 to 64, and 22.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 101.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.2 males. The median income for a household in the city was $27,389, and the median income for a family was $41,691. Males had a median income of $26,389 versus $21,065 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $15,977. About 6.2% of families and 9.6% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 7.2% of those under age 18 and 18.5% of those age 65 or over.

Gallery

File:Independence schools.jpg, Independence schools Independence, Wisconsin.jpg, Independence from the air Independence Church SS Peter & Paul Catholic Church.jpg, Independence Church SS Peter & Paul Catholic Church Independence Dam at Bugle Lake.jpg, Bugle Lake dam Bugle Lake.jpg, Bugle Lake

Notable people

* Grover L. Broadfoot, chief justice of the

Wisconsin Supreme Court The Wisconsin Supreme Court is the Supreme court, highest and final court of appeals in the state judicial system of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. In addition to hearing appeals of lower Wisconsin court decisions, the Wisconsin Supreme Court also ...

* Leo Ferdinand Dworschak,

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Bishop of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Fargo The Diocese of Fargo () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in eastern North Dakota in the United States. It is a suffragan, suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdioce ...

* George H. Markham, Wisconsin State Representative * William H. Markham, Wisconsin State SenatorWilliam H. Markham Papers, 1933-1948
/ref>

References

External links

Independence, Wisconsin website
* Sanborn fire insurance maps
18941914
{{authority control Cities in Wisconsin Cities in Trempealeau County, Wisconsin