After the Black Hawk War was over in 1832, the United States government surveyed the west bank of the Rock River at the present-day site of Janesville. In the following years, settlers retraced the soldiers’ steps and developed Janesville along the Rock River. In the summer of 1835, the first settlers arrived. Inman and Holmes, living in Milwaukee then, set out on July 15th to search for land in the Rock River valley together. They came upon the remains of Black Hawk’s camp two days later. The settlers found the land to their liking, but there were no other settlers in the area, so they returned to Milwaukee to gather supplies and make settlement plans. A few months later, Inman, Holmes, Joshua, and George Follner returned to the Rock River banks. The first permanent structure on the present-day Janesville site was a log cabin. In December 1835, Samuel St. John and his family of five arrived at the house, and all nine settlers spent the winter together.
The following Spring, several land claims and “paper towns” were platted on lands near Inman’s cabin. The county seat was established in 1836 on a small plot of land owned by Henry Janes on the east bank of the Rock River, which today is marked by the intersection of Milwaukee and Main streets. Janes applied for a post office on the site, recommending himself as postmaster and calling it “Black Hawk.” Janes was appointed postmaster by Amass Kindle, then US Postmaster General, but the office was renamed Janesville.
As a county seat, Janesville was an influential government center. Water power development along the Rock River also contributed to the City’s early prosperity. Along the Rock River were built dams, bridges, lumber mills, grist mills, and woolen mills in the 1840s. Before the Civil War, wheat and three railroad lines propelled growth. Janesville was incorporated as a city in 1853. In the following decades, flour milling, woolen and cotton production, cigar, shoe, and brick manufacturing, stone quarrying, tobacco warehousing, agricultural implement manufacturing, and eventually automobile manufacturing contributed to the economy’s and population’s expansion. From a settlement of less than 300 people in 1840, Janesville grew to 3,000 in 1850, 8,789 in 1870, 13,185 in 1900, and 22,186 in 1925. In the 19th century, most of Janesville’s residents were natives of New York and New England. English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh immigrants constituted the largest group of European immigrants.
Here are some stunning historical photos that show Janesville from the 1850s to the 1890s.
#1 St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church before the convent was built behind it, Janesville, Wisconsin, 1899
#2 The YMCA building in Janesville, Janesville, Wisconsin, 1899
#3 View down Madison Street with houses along sidewalk, Janesville, Wisconsin, 1893.
#4 Looking northwest from the Methodist Episcopal Church, Main Street, with trolley track running down the center of the street, Janesville, Wisconsin, 1893.
#5 Several looms in the instructional weaving facility at the State School for the Blind, Janesville, Wisconsin, 1893.
#6 Interior of the State School for the Blind, perhaps a study or room for recreation, Janesville, Wisconsin, 1893.
#7 Music recital room at the State School for the Blind with seven rows of seating, a piano and cello, Janesville, Wisconsin, 1893.
#8 View across street of City Hospital, Janesville, Wisconsin, 1892.
#9 The Lappin block, Ed Carpenter, proprietor, Janesville, Wisconsin, 1892.
#10 Exterior of the second Rock County Court House which stood from 1896 to 1955, Janesville, Wisconsin, 1875.
#11 Milwaukee Street looking east in Janesville, Janesville, Wisconsin, 1870. The Myers House is located at the top of the hill.
#12 Elevated view over river of Dodge Street in Janesville looking west, Janesville, Wisconsin, 1870.
#13 Jefferson School, built on the site of the first cemetery in Janesville, Janesville, Wisconsin, 1870.
#14 Elevated view looking down Court Street in Janesville toward the west, Janesville, Wisconsin, 1870.
#15 Elevated view of the busy streets of Court and Milwaukee, Janesville, Wisconsin, 1870.
Three prominent buildings in view are: Court Street Methodist Church on the far left (b. 1868), with stores on the ground floor; (Lamont & Fuller); the Meyers House (fourth tall structure from the right); and the Young America Hall (to the right of the Meyers House). The Smith Block, NE corner of Main and Milwaukee (across from the Meyers House) does not show, but was constructed c. 1871, which dates the picture 1868-1871
Leave a Reply
#16 Elevated view of Milwaukee Street, Janesville, Wisconsin, 1865.
#17 Milwaukee Street looking west with small dog in foreground, Janesville, Wisconsin, 1865.
#18 Elevated view of Janesville with a residential area in the foreground and the business district in the background, Janesville, Wisconsin, 1860.
#19 Bird’s-eye view of Janesville from the High School building, 1860
#20 View across street of City Hospital, 1892
#21 The No. 1 Cotton Mill. Plank sidewalk in foreground, 1893
#22 Elevated view looking down Court Street in Janesville toward the west, 1870
#23 Elevated view over river of Dodge Street in Janesville looking west, 1870
#24 Institution for the Education of the Blind, 1865
#25 Janesville City Hospital, 1893
#26 Jefferson School, built on the site of the first cemetery in Janesville, 1870
#27 The Kimball and Lowell Hardware Store located on the corner of Franklin and Milwaukee Streets, 1887
#28 The Lappin Block, 1892
#29 View down Madison Street with houses along sidewalk, 1893
#30 Looking northwest from the Methodist Episcopal Church, Main Street, with trolley track running down the center of the street, 1893
#31 Milwaukee Street in Janesville, 1865
#32 View from along right side of bridge of Milwaukee Street looking east in Janesville, 1870
#33 The Rock River, 1868
#34 Rock County Court House, 1875
#35 Stereograph of the Rock County Court House, 1890
#36 Elevated view of the town with All Souls Church in the bottom right corner, 1893
#37 View of the Janesville Countryside, 1860
#38 View from the south, with a railroad in the foreground, a river in the middle distance, and Janesville in the background, 1893
#39 Elevated view of Janesville with a residential area in the foreground and the business district in the background, 1860
#40 View from the cupola of the old Jefferson School. The large building in the upper left is the Hyatt House, which burned in 1867.
#41 Aerial view of a residential part of Janesville, 1865
#42 Elevated View of Milwaukee Street, 1865
#43 An interior view of the front parlor at 165 N. High Street, 1898
#44 An elderly man stands in a room holding a small girl, 1898
#45 Stereograph of the Rock County Court House, 1890
#46 Right side view of Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway locomotive engine no. 632., 1886
#47 Students and adults of the State School for the Blind pose for a group portrait in front of the building, 1893
#48 Milwaukee Street looking west from the Jackman Building includes a horse and buggy, the Valley Chief Reaper Gun Shop, and a furniture store, 1850
#49 Crystal Springs, a popular park 3 miles north of Janesville, 1850.
#50 The First National Bank at the corner of River and Milwaukee Streets, 1890s.
#51 Milwaukee Street, West, 1860
#52 Hyatt House Hotel, 1856
Janesville's Hyatt House Hotel and its environs before the hotel burned down: A. Hyatt Smith built the Hyatt House on the site of the old Stevens House Hotel on the west side of the Rock River around 1856. The Stevens Hotel burned down on April 1, 1853. West Milwaukee and Franklin Street is the 2005 corner on which this hotel stood. Five stories high and built of brick, the Hyatt House was the most elaborate of the city's nineteenth-century hotels. Its dining room could seat 400-500 guests at one time. The building was destroyed by fire on October 12, 1867. Chester A. Arthur is said to have stayed at the Hyatt House in 1857, before he was president, when he was on a tour of the West on a prospecting trip. Stephen A. Douglas, a Democratic candidate for President against Abraham Lincoln, gave a campaign speech at this hotel.
Leave a Reply
#53 First Congregational Church, 1860
#54 Railroad roundhouse with wood-burning locomotives, 1860
#55 Civil War soldiers lined up in Janesville, 1860
#56 St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, which was built about 1800 at 315 Cherry Street, 1864.
#57 Railroad roundhouse, Chicago and North Western Roundhouse in south Janesville, 1864
#58 A marching band marching down Janesville’s unpaved Main Street in a Fourth of July parade, 1869.
#59 A horse-drawn float full of flower-bedecked women dressed in white riding in an 1869 July 4th parade in front of the Myers House, 1869
#60 Early woolen mill, Janesville, 1870
PJanesville's first woolen mill built in 1849. Men, women, and child laborers stand in front of the stone three-story structure, said to be on the site of what became the Panoramic Corporation and thus the longest continuously occupied industrial site in the city. This may be the oldest photograph in existence showing a Janesville labor force at its place of employment. The mill was constructed in 1849 as the Whitaker Mill. F. A. Wheeler and Sons then ran it. Payne, Hastings, and Co. took over the mill sometime between 1866 and 1870. In 1873, the company was reorganized as the McLean Woolen Mills. Around the turn of the twentieth century, it became known as the Rock River Woolen Mills. The stone building in this photo burned down around 1881 and was replaced by a new structure which was still standing in 1982 as part of the Panoramic complex. A JANESVILLE GAZETTE article from March 11, 1871, described what went on on each floor of the mill: the lower level was used for storage.
Leave a Reply
#61 D. D. Wilson’s Music Store and the Park Shoe Store, at the northwest corner of Court and Main Streets, 1870
#62 Rock County Jail, 1871
#63 Rock County Courthouse, 1871
#64 Monterey Rock, 1875
#65 Myers House Hotel and Todd’s Brewery on Milwaukee Street, 1875
#66 Myers House Hotel from South Main Street. Photo includes an unpaved street, a horse and coach, 1875
#67 St. Mary’s Catholic Church, 1876.
#68 Myers House Hotel, 1880
#69 Janesville Machine Company, 1880
#70 Claremont S. Jackson home in Janesville, 1880
#71 Railroad Hotel that was once located near the railroad yard on Beloit Avenue in south Janesville, 1880
#72 Milwaukee and Main Street, 1882
#73 “Enterprise” steamboat and “Bower City Belle” boat on the Rock River, June 1884
#74 Janesville Cotton Mills building at 216-220 North Franklin Street, 1888
#75 Janesville residences, schools, churches, street scenes, bridges and dams, 1888
#76 William Henry Tallman House at 440 South Jackson Street in Janesville, 1888.
#77 Janesville City Hospital, 1890
#78 Kate and Ellen Nelson on Park Avenue with an older couple, 1890
#79 A building with a mansard roof at the corner of Franklin and Milwaukee Streets in Janesville, 1890
#80 West Milwaukee Street near Jackson Street looking east, 1890
#81 Elks Carnival Parade on Milwaukee Street in August, 1890
Photo one, on the corner of River and Milwaukee Streets, includes views of the Hall, Sayles and Fifield Jewelry Store, Sarasy Drugs, and Kimball Undertaking as well. In the street are horse-drawn carriages, stores with awnings, and a man on a bicycle are seen: Photo two shows the parade crossing Milwaukee Street bridge. Chauncy Miltimore leads the parade on horseback followed by a a marching band.
Leave a Reply
#82 Rock County Courthouse in Janesville is taken from a street in winter, 1890.
The trees are bare, and there are two men in dress coats and hats on either side of the three-tiered fountain in front of the courthouse in the area called Lower Courthouse Park. The first courthouse, a wooden affair, was built in 1842 but was consumed by fire in 1858. The second courthouse opened on February 1, 1871 and was razed in 1957 to make way for a third courthouse.
Leave a Reply
#83 Hotel Corneau on the corner of Main and First Street in Janesville, 1890
#84 Kate and Ellen Nelson in front of their house with dog and horse-drawn carriage, 1890
#85 Main Street as seen from Milwaukee Street in the 1890s
#86 Fourth Avenue bridge looking south down the Rock River, 1890.
#87 Corn Exchange fountain, 1890
#88 Jackson Street merchants with their wares, 1890
A street scene of merchants on Jackson Street standing outside their stores with many of their wares, including baskets and barrels. Hanley Bros. Fruit Dealers, Skelly and Wilbur Wholesale and Retail are the stores identified by their signs. John Hyzer is said to be one of the men in the photo. The street is unpaved. This batch of retail stores later became the Cain Ashcraft Building (11 South Jackson Street).
Leave a Reply
#89 Five men outside their grocery store on River Street in Janesville, 1890.
The scene includes baskets of fruits and vegetables, including bananas and pineapples, and an ad for Hires root beer! It also includes what appear to be gas lights and an ad for a printer. The men identified in the photo are Harry Dorn, Wally Nash (proprietor, 3rd person) and his father (with beard), James Clark, and Walter Taylor.
Leave a Reply
#90 The Chicago and North Western Railroad depot in Janesville with a steam locomotive on the track, 1890
#91 Palmer Memorial Hospital, Washington St., Janesville, 1895
This hospital was established by Dr. Henry W. Palmer at this location in 1895, and taken over and renovated by Dr. W. H. Palmer -- Dr. Henry Palmer's son -- following his father's death on June 15, 1895. The hospital was named "The Palmer Memorial Hospital" at the time the son took it over.
