Stoughton Main Street Commercial Historic District
The Stoughton Main Street Commercial Historic District is a collection of 36 surviving historic business structures in the old downtown of Stoughton, Wisconsin, United States. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. History. Stoughton began in 1847 when pioneer Luke Stoughton platted a village along the Yahara River, then called Catfish Creek. He built a dam on the river, a sawmill, and a grist mill, and that same year Alvin West built an inn at what is now 101 W. Main. The Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad reached town in  1853, making Stoughton a shipping center for wheat from the surrounding farms. T.G. Mandt started a wagon-making factory the 1860s which was so successful that the town was known as "the Hub City." In 1880 Mandt's factory produced 5,000 wagons, 50,000 to 75,000 wheel hubs, and employed almost 200 men. Most early stores were built of wood, and in 1889 a fire destroyed a whole row of frame buildings on East Main Street, from 139 to 195 E. Main - except for the Moen Bakery building at 147-143 E. Main. That bakery had been built around 1882 of  brick, and it survived, though damaged. The owners and city decided to rebuild the entire block in brick, two stories tall, with a unified design. The large project was managed by George Becker. Even the Moen Bakery got a new cornice to match the other buildings. These are some pivotal buildings in the district, in roughly the order built: