Edited sentence: (This spot is now marked with a commemorative plaque and stone dedicated by the Catholic parish in 1970).A company was organized and a civil engineer who was with them commenced the survey.A frame building served as the first courthouse on the east side of the square, near the middle of the block.A log house 20 by 30 feet was erected; it was so planned that is could be used for a fort and was known as Jim Lane's Fort until it was torn down.A man named Wheeler was engaged to make a plot of the town.At Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in May, 1856, a train of six covered wagons, each drawn by two yoke of oxen, started the long trek to Kansas to insure another free state for the union.Holton is located in Jackson County.Holton was chosen as the county seat in 1858.Holton, the Milwaukee abolitionist.In 1859 Holton had seven dwellings, one store, a blacksmith shop and a steam saw mill.In 1859 the city was incorporated.In the spring of 1857, J.Ingerson surveyed the townsite lots.Jackson County had been originally named Calhoun County, honoring John Calhoun, Secretary of War under President Monroe, until 1859, then the name was changed to honor Andrew Jackson.Lane with two hundred men at Nebraska City, Nebraska, a rendezvous for Free State men.The census taken in April, 1857, gave Holton 291 people; in 1860 the population was 1,936.The first courthouse built in the center of the square in 1872 cost $23,000, and the present courthouse completed in 1921 cost $300,000.They came to Elk Creek, 2 1/2 miles west of Holton, where they cut timbers to make a bridge, crossed it and made camp where Central School now stands.They filed at the Lecompton Land Office in the spring.They followed the Jim Lane Road into Kansas approximately thirty miles.They liked the two streams (later named Banner Creek and Elk Creek) and the pleasant grassy hills, so they decided to stay.They met General James H.They named the new town honoring Mr.They were financed by the Kansas Society of Milwaukee which was headed by E