Map of Jefferson city, Wisconsin

Jefferson is a city in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, United States, and is its county seat. It is at the confluence of the Rock and Crawfish rivers. The population was 7,793 at the 2020 census. The city is partially bordered by the Town of Jefferson.

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History

Jefferson’s location was selected to make use of the water power and transportation opportunities offered by the Rock River. It was the furthest point a steamboat could navigate the Rock in 1839. Later bridges built downstream prevented such navigation.

Jefferson’s founders were settlers from New England, particularly Connecticut, rural Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, as well some from upstate New York born to parents who had migrated there from New England shortly after the American Revolution. These people were “Yankees” descended from the English Puritans who settled New England in the 1600s. They were part of a wave of New England farmers who headed west into what was then the wilds of the Northwest Territory during the early 1800s. Most arrived as a result of the completion of the Erie Canal as well as the end of the Black Hawk War.

When they arrived in what is now Jefferson there was nothing but dense virgin forest and wild prairie, the New Englanders built farms, roads, and government buildings and established post routes. They brought many of their Yankee New England values, such as a passion for education, establishing many schools as well as staunch support for abolitionism. They were mostly members of the Congregationalist Church though some were Episcopalian. Due to the second Great Awakening some had converted to Methodism and others had become Baptists before moving to what is now Jefferson. Jefferson, like much of Wisconsin, would be culturally very continuous with early New England culture for most of its early history.

Jefferson was incorporated as a village by an 1857 act of the Wisconsin Legislature, and was then incorporated as a city in 1878.

During World War II, Camp Jefferson, a prison camp for German POWs, was erected at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds. The Jefferson County Fairgrounds hosted horse buggy racing prior to the renovations to the new fairgrounds.

Gemuetlichkeit Days was started in 1971 to celebrate the German heritage of many of the residents of the Jefferson area. The festival was first held under tents in the downtown area. The festival quickly grew and in 1975 the festival was moved to the Jefferson County Fair grounds and has been held there every year since then.

Jefferson Road Map

Jefferson city Satellite Map

Geography

Jefferson is located at 43°0′11″N 88°48′28″W / 43.00306°N 88.80778°W / 43.00306; -88.80778 (43.003091, -88.807855).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 5.93 sq mi (15.36 km), of which 5.72 sq mi (14.81 km) is land and 0.21 sq mi (0.54 km) is water.

Jefferson’s elevation is 797 ft (243 m) at the center of downtown.

See also