Grant County, Wisconsin

Grant County, Wisconsin
Grant County is the most southwestern county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 51,938. Its county seat is Lancaster and its largest city is Platteville. The county is named after the Grant River, in turn named after a fur trader who lived in the area when Wisconsin was a territory. Grant County comprises the Platteville Micropolitan Statistical Area. It is in the tri-state area of Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa, and is crossed by travelers commuting to Madison, Wisconsin, from a number of eastern Iowan cities, and by residents of northern Illinois traveling to the Twin Cities or La Crosse, Wisconsin.
History
Indian presence
What is now Grant County was largely uninhabited prior to contact with Europeans, as it was a border region between the territories of the Kickapoo, Menominee, and Illinois tribes. The only Native Americans to have a permanent settlement in the area were the Fox tribe, who had a temporary village in what is now the extreme northeast of the county during the mid-1700s.
Colonial period
Between 1520 and 1620 this area was nominally ruled by Spain, although the lack of explorers left the region completely untouched by Spanish authority. The first Frenchmen to reach what is now Grant County were Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet, who explored the region in the spring of 1673, after setting out from what would later become Green Bay. No permanent settlement was made. In 1680 Louis Hennepin also passed through the region that would later become Grant County, also making no permanent settlement. In 1689 Nicholas Perrot passed through the territory and claimed it for the King of France. The first settlement was a temporary trading post that Pierre Marin founded in 1725.
The British technically ruled the region during the period between the French and Indian War and the American Revolution, though no effort was made to settle or administer the region. After the abandonment of Marin's trading post, the region went unvisited until the expedition of Jonathan Carver, a New England Yankee who passed through what is now Grant County in 1766 during an attempt to discover the Pacific Ocean.
American period
In 1783, the British government acknowledged the jurisdiction of the United States over the land east of the Mississippi River, including what is now Grant County. American and European traders visiting the region over the next decades were yet as nomadic as the Indians, and no records survive. Grant County was created as part of Wisconsin Territory in 1837. It was named after an Indian trader; his first name, origins, and eventual fate are all unknown.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (3.1%) is water.
Major highways
U.S. Highway 18
U.S. Highway 61
U.S. Highway 151
Highway 11 (Wisconsin)
Highway 35 (Wisconsin)
Highway 80 (Wisconsin)
Highway 81 (Wisconsin)
Highway 133 (Wisconsin)
Railroads
BNSF
Wisconsin and Southern Railroad
Buses
Platteville Public Transportation
List of intercity bus stops in Wisconsin
Airports
KOVSBoscobel Municipal Airport
KPVBPlatteville Municipal Airport serves the county and surrounding communities.
73CLancaster Municipal Airport enhances county service.
C74Cassville Municipal Airport
Adjacent counties
Crawford County, Wisconsinnorth
Richland County, Wisconsinnortheast
Iowa County, Wisconsineast
Lafayette County, Wisconsineast
Jo Daviess County, Illinoissoutheast
Dubuque County, Iowasouth
Clayton County, Iowawest
Demographics
2020 census
As of the census of 2020, the population was 51,938. The population density was . There were 22,110 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 93.8% White, 1.3% Black or African American, 0.8% Asian, 0.2% Native American, 1.0% from other races, and 2.8% from two or more races. Ethnically, the population was 2.4% Hispanic or Latino of any race.
2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 49,597 people, 18,465 households, and 12,390 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 19,940 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 98.23% White, 0.52% Black or African American, 0.13% Native American, 0.46% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.14% from other races, and 0.50% from two or more races. 0.56% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 52.0% were of German, 9.2% English, 8.8% Irish, 6.6% American and 6.4% Norwegian ancestry.
There were 18,465 households, out of which 30.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.10% were married couples living together, 7.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.90% were non-families. 26.00% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 3.03.
In the county, the population was spread out, with 23.70% under the age of 18, 14.60% from 18 to 24, 24.80% from 25 to 44, 21.60% from 45 to 64, and 15.30% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 103.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.00 males.
Government and infrastructure
The Wisconsin Secure Program Facility (WSPF), a Wisconsin Department of Corrections prison for men, is located in Boscobel in Grant County.
Politics
Grant County has been a reliably Republican county at the federal level for most of its existence. Starting in 1992 however, it voted for the Democratic candidate for president six elections in a row before shifting back to the GOP in 2016.
Communities
Cities
Boscobel
Cuba City (partly in Lafayette County)
Fennimore
Lancaster (county seat)
Platteville
Villages
Bagley
Bloomington
Blue River
Cassville
Dickeyville
Hazel Green (partly in Lafayette County)
Livingston (partly in Iowa County)
Montfort (partly in Iowa County)
Muscoda (partly in Iowa County)
Mount Hope
Patch Grove
Potosi
Tennyson
Woodman
Towns
Beetown
Bloomington
Cassville
Castle Rock
Clifton
Ellenboro
Fennimore
Glen Haven
Harrison
Hazel Green
Hickory Grove
Jamestown
Liberty
Lima
Little Grant
Marion
Millville
Mount Hope
Mount Ida
Muscoda
North Lancaster
Paris
Patch Grove
Platteville
Potosi
Smelser
South Lancaster
Waterloo
Watterstown
Wingville
Woodman
Wyalusing
Census-designated places
Glen Haven
Kieler
Sandy Hook
Unincorporated communities
Annaton
Arthur
Beetown
Bigpatch
British Hollow
Brodtville
Buena Vista
Burton
Castle Rock
Centerville
Cornelia
Diamond Grove
Ellenboro
Elmo
Fair Play
Five Points
Flora Fountain
Georgetown
Hickory Grove
Homer
Hurricane
Lancaster Junction
Louisburg
McCartney
Millville
Mount Ida
North Andover
Prairie Corners
Preston
Rockville
Rutledge
Saint Rose
Shady Dell
Sinsinawa
Stitzer
Union
Van Buren
Werley
Wyalusing
Ghost towns/neighborhoods
Pleasant Ridge
Sinnipee
Notable people
Willard H. Burney, member of the Nebraska House of Representatives
B. W. Countryman, member of the South Dakota House of Representatives
John Lewis Dyer, Methodist circuit rider missionary in Minnesota and Colorado; lead miner in Grant County prior to 1848
William Garner Waddel, member of the South Dakota Senate
See also
National Register of Historic Places listings in Grant County, Wisconsin
Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge
Footnotes
Further reading
Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa, and Lafayette, Wisconsin, Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, and of Many of the Early Settled Families. Chicago: J. H. Beers and Co., 1901.
History of Grant County, Wisconsin. Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1881.
External links
Grant County Official Government Website
Grant County map from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation
Grant County Health and Demographic Data
Grant County Sheriff's Office
Wisconsin counties on the Mississippi River
1837 establishments in Wisconsin Territory
Populated places established in 1837