Edgerton

History

Originally called Fulton Station, Edgerton was named after 19th-century businessman Elisha W. Edgerton, or his brother Benjamin Hyde Edgerton, a civil engineer. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Edgerton was the center of the tobacco industry in southern Wisconsin. At one time, there were as many as 52 tobacco warehouses dotting the streets of the city. Queen Anne style mansions along Edgerton's Washington Street testify to the wealth and prominence some merchants once had. The 1890s Carlton Hotel, once located on Henry Street, also once served as an additional reminder of the tobacco industry's influence. Although built by a brewing firm, the hotel (which burned to the ground in the 1990s) was frequented by tobacco buyers and sellers. In 1886, Catholic parents in Edgerton protested the reading of the King James Bible in the village schools because they considered the Douay version the correct translation. The school board argued that Catholic children could ignore the Bible readings or sit in the cloakroom while the rest of the children listened to the reading of a Protestant version of the Bible. Because the school board refused to change its policy, several families brought suit on the grounds that the schools' practice conflicted with the Wisconsin Constitution, which forbade sectarian instruction in public schools. The circuit court rejected their argument, deciding in 1888 that the readings were not sectarian because both translations were of the same work. The parents appealed their case to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which overruled the circuit court on March 18, 1890, concluding that reading the Bible did—in fact—constitute sectarian instruction and thus illegally united the functions of church and state. Seventy years later, when the U.S.…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land. None of the area is covered with water, except for Saunders Creek, although the city is within a five-minute drive of Lake Koshkonong. Lake Koshkonong is the third largest lake in Wisconsin, and though very shallow, it provides a place for water sports. Skiing, tubing, and fishing are common activities on the lake or the Rock River, which feeds it. The Rock River runs all the way to the Mississippi.

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• Milton High
  High · Milton · 1,053 students · 16.7:1 ratio
• Edgerton Community Elementary
  Elementary · Edgerton · 844 students · 14.3:1 ratio
• Northside Intermediate
  Middle · Milton · 715 students · 15.5:1 ratio
• Edgerton High
  High · Edgerton · 543 students · 15.5:1 ratio
• Milton Middle
  Middle · Milton · 511 students · 15:1 ratio
• East Elementary
  Elementary · Milton · 427 students · 15.3:1 ratio
• Edgerton Middle
  Middle · Edgerton · 424 students · 14.6:1 ratio
• West Elementary
  Elementary · Milton · 320 students · 12.8:1 ratio