>> " Now through 'The Gazette,' I hear of railroad arrivals and new railroads running into Janesville from all parts of the state, of telegraph dispatches, of ponderous three- and four-story buildings going up, as if by magic. And lots selling for more money than I ever saw at one time. Some of you citizens will hardly credit the story that but little over 20 years ago, there was but one log cabin and one family was the sum total of inhabitants of the present city of Janesville." Henry Janes. >> In the 1830s, surveyors venturing into the Janesville area found that surrounding the hills of the Rock River valley were large areas of tall grass prairie punctuated by pockets of woodland, a good mix of open land for farming and timber for building. Only a few years before, the Sac Indian Chief Blackhawk launched an unsuccessful attempt to reclaim his tribe's ancestral hunting and planting grounds in Illinois. Pursued by militia groups and the U.S. Army, Blackhawk and his band retreated up the Rock River valley, stopping for a period in what would become the Janesville area. The eventual defeat of Blackhawk marked the end of Native American control of the land. >> The militia and soldieries that were pursuing Blackhawk were coming into land that, more than likely, they had not seen before. And they realized that this was prairie land, that it had oak openings, that it was rich and fertile. As they went back, they told about the land that they had seen, and that it was good land what it looked like, you know, off of it you could make a good living. >> Early settlers crossed the Rock River at what would become a local landmark called "The Big Rock." >> To the American Indians who lived in this area it marked the location of trails coming from east and west, north and south, to a shallow place in the river. So, it was a major crossing point for the Indian trails. For the settlers, it just simply became the landmark for the county. And it is after that rock that the county is named, Rock County. >> One of the first to arrive was a settler from Virginia named Henry Janes, who became the founder of the city of Janesville. >> "If any of the wah-hoos of Janesville who have not had the good or bad fortune to be acquainted with me, desire more information, I can inform them that I am now in my fifty-second year, weigh 210 pounds, stand 6' 2" in my socks, and have rambled with my family over more of the western country, and to less purpose, than any other man in it." >> He described himself as kind of a woodsman. He mentions that he found this particular area that he thought was very desirous. He blazed trees to locate his claim and then walked to Green Bay to certify his claim with the federal government. He intended, I think, to found a town, because he certainly he platted out the early village of Janesville, which he wanted to call Blackhawk, by the way, but was turned down by the United States Postal Service for that name. >> Early settlers petitioned the territorial government to grant Janes a license to operate a ferry across the Rock River. >> He built a ferry and charged people to go over. I believe it was 12 cents, or something like that, for a man to cross by ferry, 25 cents for a wagon with a horse. The spot that he picked became the center ever since that time of downtown Janesville. It was a tavern, and was the central meeting place for what became the early village of Janesville. The first church services were held there in the tavern. Interestingly, they said that the bottles of alcohol were pushed aside and the minister presided over the bar. He had a wanderlust that caused him to leave Janesville within a few years. >> "On the 28th day of August, 1839, I bade adieu to Wisconsin, and in the fall of '49, the Pacific Ocean put an end to my further progress toward the setting sun. And as I never varied much to the north or south, my wanderings are at an end." Henry Janes. >> In the coming decades, settlers flocked to the Rock prairie to plant wheat on some of the richest farmland in the world. >> Initially, it was all about agriculture. Of course, that was the great emphasis for people coming west, was to acquire their own land, their own homestead, >> It started out quite slow, with just a few families. And they seemed very scattered, but when we start to look at them, there are many of them, and they're coming and they settle. So really, settlement burgeons very, very quickly. Janesville was started in roughly 1835 with Henry Janes. But by 1839, it's a small village of 800 or 900 people. By the 1840s, several thousand. >> Many of Janesville's earliest homes still stand, a reminder of those who provided goods and services to area farmers, and who built the first industries powered by the flow of the Rock River. >> It's been a major, major influence. At first, it was a barrier and you had to get across. Then, as time went on, it became a source of power and of energy. >> In 1844, a dam was built to harness the power of the nine-foot drop of the Rock River. Flour mills and lumber mills soon crowded the water power sites along the river. Powered by the flowing water, Janesville soon became a center for grinding the region's wheat into flour. An early landmark in town was "The Big Mill." Four stories tall, it turned out 300 barrels of flour a day, until it burned to the ground in 1872. >> And it was a large mill. It was big. It was a big mill. (laughs) And it was an important, highly important business in the community. There are other mills, saw mills, wood mills, and planing mills and factories. There were sash mills to make window frames and casings, all powered with water. >> In 1853, Janesville became a city. By this time, it had almost 5,000 people. In addition to its mills, there were two foundries, mechanic shops of all kinds, dry goods, grocery and hardware stores, book stores, drug stores, and several variety stores, two banks, five hotels, and three weekly and one monthly newspaper. A railroad had just come to town, and another was on its way. But Janesville's early residents had more than just commerce on their minds.
Passport
Follow Us