Stoughton

Stoughton, Wisconsin
—  City  —
Downtown Stoughton
Location of Stoughton, Wisconsin
Coordinates: 42°55′16″N 89°13′28″W / 42.92111°N 89.22444°W / 42.92111; -89.22444Coordinates: 42°55′16″N 89°13′28″W / 42.92111°N 89.22444°W / 42.92111; -89.22444
Country	United States
State	Wisconsin
County	Dane
Government
• Mayor	Donna Olson
Area
• Total	4.1 sq mi (10.6 km2)
• Land	4.0 sq mi (10.3 km2)
• Water	0.1 sq mi (0.4 km2)
Elevation[1]	876 ft (267 m)
Population (2010)
• Total	12,611
• Density	3,075.9/sq mi (1,189.7/km2)
Time zone	Central (CST) (UTC-6)
• Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
Area code(s)	608
FIPS code	55-77675[2]
GNIS feature ID	1574965[1]
Website	http://www.cityofstoughton.com

Stoughton is a city in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States and is a neighbor of Madison. It straddles the Yahara River about 20 miles southeast of the capital, Madison. Stoughton is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 Census, the population is 12,611, a growth of 2% from the 2000 Census.

Stoughton is known for its Norwegian heritage: It hosts a citywide celebration of Syttende Mai, the Norwegian constitution day, on the weekend closest to May 17. Its sister city is Gjøvik, Norway. Part of the city's celebration of its Norwegian heritage is the Stoughton Norwegian Dancers dance group, sponsored by Stoughton High School.^[3]

History

Stoughton was founded in 1847 by Luke Stoughton, an Englishman from Vermont. Many Norwegian immigrants settled in the town from 1865 through the early 1900s. ^[4] Stoughton also claims to be the birthplace of the "Coffee Break", and hosts a small yearly parade to celebrate the distinction.

For much of the history of the area, Stoughton has been the second-largest and economically important city in Dane County after Madison.^[5]

In 1919, Stoughton Wagon Company began putting custom wagon bodies on Model T chassis;^[6] by 1929 Ford was by far the biggest seller of station wagons.

On August 18, 2005, an F3 tornado cut a 10-mile path across rural subdivisions and farms north of Stoughton, killing one person and damaging hundreds of homes.

In June 2010 a third water tower was built. After it was finished, the town's name was painted on either side; on one side the painters mistakenly left out the second T, spelling it 'STOUGHON'. The mistake was corrected soon after at no cost to the city.^[7]

Media

A weekly newspaper, the Stoughton Courier-Hub, is published on Thursdays and was founded in 1869.^[8][9]

City of Stoughton, Media Services Department operates a Public, educational, and government access (PEG) cable TV channel WSTO TV

Government

Stoughton is incorporated as a city under the Wisconsin Statutes and has an elected mayor and 12-member City Council consisting of aldermen elected to three-year terms from four districts; the terms are staggered so that one seat is up for election in each of the four districts each spring.

As in all of Wisconsin, a special district is charged with running the public schools in and around Stoughton; this entity, the Stoughton Area School District, is run by an elected Board of Education.

Economy

The corporate headquarters and semi-trailer manufacturing facility for Stoughton Trailers are located in Stoughton, where the company has been locally owned and operated for almost 50 years. The 680,000 sq. ft. Stoughton plant houses everything from fabrication of subassemblies to final assembly of all Stoughton dry vans. Stoughton Trailers is the 5th largest truck trailer manufacturing company in North America.^[10]

Another large employer in the city is Uniroyal Engineered Products, which makes Naugahyde.^[11] Stoughton and environs are also home to printers, manufacturers of foodstuffs, chemicals, and sundry other products.

Stoughton is located on US Highway 51 which joins the Interstate system (I-90/94) six miles east of town where is also returns to being part thereof (I-39) Somewhat further in the other direction is the East Side of Madison and neighbouring communities. A small airport, Matson Field, is located two miles east-southeast of downtown Stoughton.

A municipally-owned utility company, Stoughton Utilities, provides service to the city.

Events

The coffee break is said to have originated in Stoughton, when the immigrant men became employed en masse at T.G. Mandt's wagon factory, leaving their wives to fill the shortages at the tobacco warehouses, who agreed to work under the condition that they were allowed to go home every morning and afternoon to tend to chores and, of course, drink coffee. The city of Stoughton celebrates the coffee break every summer with the Stoughton Coffee Break Festival.^[12]

The first weekend in December marks Stoughton's Victorian Holiday Weekend celebrating the city's wealth of beautifully preserved Victorian homes and commercial buildings. Events include a Victorian Holiday Ball featuring Period dances in a casual atmosphere, a production of the Nutcracker Ballet, carriage rides, a silent decorated fire truck parade, children's parade, and more.^[13]

The weekend closest to May 17, Norweigan Constitution Day, marks Stoughton's Syttende Mai festival. The weekend-long celebration includes parades, an art fair, Norweigan Dancer performance, and many other events.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.1 square miles (10.6 km²), of which, 4.0 square miles (10.3 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.4 km²) of it (3.41%) is water.

Demographics

As of the census^[2] of 2000, there were 12,354 people, 4,734 households, and 3,185 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,116.6 people per square mile (1,204.5/km²). There were 4,890 housing units at an average density of 1,233.6 per square mile (476.8/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 96.66% White, 0.92% African American, 0.29% Native American, 0.70% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.36% from other races, and 1.05% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.24% of the population. 32.0% were of German, 28.9% Norwegian, 8.5% Irish and 5.3% English ancestry according to Census 2000.

There were 4,734 households out of which 37.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.6% were married couples living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.7% were non-families. 26.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 3.06.

In the city the population was spread out with 28.3% under the age of 18, 6.4% from 18 to 24, 32.6% from 25 to 44, 18.4% from 45 to 64, and 14.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 89.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.3 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $47,633, and the median income for a family was $58,543. Males had a median income of $37,956 versus $26,187 for females. The per capita income for the city was $21,037. About 3.1% of families and 5.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.9% of those under age 18 and 7.2% of those age 65 or over.

In the media

In 2004, a Norwegian TV crew traveled to the Midwest to witness the modern manifestations of Norsky culture in the state. The team was affiliated with the Sogn og Fjordane branch of NRK, Norway’s public television network, but worked as free-lancers on this project. During their stay the team visited Stoughton, as well as Mount Horeb and Decorah, Iowa. In Stoughton the Norwegians focused on Jessica Lippart, then a bunad-clad member of the Stoughton Norwegian Dancers, as she danced and commented on the Norwegian-American cultural aspects of the area. The documentary Ja, de elsker (Yes, they love, a reference to the Norwegian national anthem) was aired on NRK1 on May 16, and May 17, 2006, just in time for that year's Norwegian Constitution Day. The program was also shown on December 30, 2006.^[14]

Notable people

• Ole Amundsen Buslett, author
• Harold Drotning, Distinguished Service Cross recipient.^[15]
• Graham Elwood, comedian
• John Edward Erickson, Governor of Montana, was born in Stoughton.
• Jerry Frei, head coach of the Oregon Ducks football team, NFL assistant coach.
• Gale Gillingham, Grren Bay Packer Hall of Fame
• Russell Hellickson won the silver medal in freestyle wrestling (light-heavyweight class) at the 1976 Summer Olympics.^[16] He was the head wrestling coach at UW-Madison from 1982 to 1986^[17] and at Ohio State University from 1986 to 2006, and he has been a television commentator at six Olympics.^[18] He was a state champion for Stoughton High School in 1966.^[19]
• Bob Homme was the star on the long-lived Canadian television series The Friendly Giant. Seen initially on Madison's WHA-TV, the show was broadcast for decades on CBC Television and was one of the most successful children's television series in Canada. He received the Order of Canada, the nation's highest official decoration.
• Henry Huber, Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin.
• Thomas A. Loftus, United States ambassador to Norway, Wisconsin politician
• Per Lysne, artist.
• John McCarthy, Nebraska politician and member of the United States House of Representatives, was born in Stoughton.
• John E. McCoy, U.S. Air National Guard general.
• William P. Murphy, Nobel Prize laureate.
• Truman O. Olson, Medal of Honor recipient.
• Andrew Rein won the silver medal in freestyle wrestling (lightweight class) at the 1984 Summer Olympics.^[16] He was an NCAA champion (150-pound class) at UW-Madison in 1980 and the head wrestling coach there from 1987 to 1993.^[17] He was a state champion for Stoughton High School in 1975 and 1976.^[19]
• Carl W. Thompson, Wisconsin State Senator
• Norman Wengert, political scientist
• Ralph Wise Zwicker, U.S. Army Major General

Images

• 

  Stoughton Opera House and City Hall

• 

  Welcome sign

• 

  Train depot

• 

  Fire station

• 

  Post office

• 

  Public library

• 

  Stoughton Hospital

• 

  Damage from 2005 tornado

• 

  Stoughton, Wisconsin's Main Street from a street view

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Stoughton, Wisconsin

• City of Stoughton
• Stoughton Chamber of Commerce
• Stoughton Historical Society
• Stoughton Norwegian Dancers
• Syttende Mai festival
• Stoughton Opera House
• Stoughton Public Library
• Stoughton Utilities
• WSTO Channel 12
• WSTO Videos

v t e Madison Metropolitan Area Surrounding communities (over 10,000) Fitchburg° | Middleton° | Stoughton° | Sun Prairie° | Waunakee‡ (under 10,000) Arena | Arlington | Ashton Corners* | Blooming Grove* | Barneveld | Bristol* | Burke* | Columbus | Cottage Grove‡ | De Forest‡ | Dunkirk* | Dodgeville | Dunn* | Hope* | Lodi‡ | Lake Wisconsin, Wisconsin§ | Maple Bluff‡ | McFarland‡ | Mt Horeb‡ | Monona° | Montrose* | Oregon‡ | Pardeville | Pleasant Springs | Portage° | Poynette | Ridgeway | Shorewood Hills‡ | Springfield* | Town of Madison* | Verona° | | Westport* | Wisconsin Dells° | Windsor* | Wyocena* Counties Dane | Columbia | Iowa *town ‡village °city §CDP

v t e Municipalities and communities of Dane County, Wisconsin, United States County seat: Madison Cities Edgerton‡ Fitchburg Madison Middleton Monona Stoughton Sun Prairie Verona Villages Belleville‡ Black Earth Blue Mounds Brooklyn‡ Cambridge‡ Cottage Grove Cross Plains Dane Deerfield De Forest Maple Bluff Marshall Mazomanie McFarland Mount Horeb Oregon Rockdale Shorewood Hills Waunakee Towns Albion Berry Black Earth Blooming Grove Blue Mounds Bristol Burke Christiana Cottage Grove Cross Plains Dane Deerfield Dunkirk Dunn Madison Mazomanie Medina Middleton Montrose Oregon Perry Pleasant Springs Primrose Roxbury Rutland Springdale Springfield Sun Prairie Vermont Verona Vienna Westport Windsor York CDP Windsor Unincorporated communities Albion Ashton Ashton Corners Basco Daleyville Deansville Door Creek Dunkirk East Bristol Elvers Five Points Forward Hanerville Hillside Hope Indian Heights Kegonsa Klevenville Lake Windsor London‡ Martinsville Marxville Middleton Junction Montrose Morrisonville Mount Vernon Nora North Bristol Norway Grove Paoli Pierceville Pine Bluff Primrose Riley Roxbury Rutland Springfield Corners Stone Token Creek Utica Vilas West Middleton York Center Footnotes ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties