Horicon, Wisconsin

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1991. It stands in Horicon City. It lies in ZIP code area 53032. It lies near Onemile Island. The Survey maps it on the Horicon quadrangle. 3,767 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 883 feet above sea level.

Horicon within Dodge County

On record in Horicon

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 4 records

Population over time

2 figures

Horicon grew from 3,655 to 3,767 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

Year	People	Change
2010	3,655
2020	3,767	+112 (+3%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 10 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

1955 USGS Horicon quadrangle1:62500
1957 USGS Madison quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
1960 USGS Madison quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
1975 USGS Horicon NW quadrangle1:24000
1980 USGS Horicon quadrangle1:24000
1984 USGS Oconomowoc quadrangle1:100000
1991 USGS Oconomowoc quadrangle1:100000

What happened here

An account from the chapter on Horicon city. The inset identifies its exact source book and publication year.

From The History of Dodge County, Wisconsin, Containing ... Its Early Settlement, Growth ... an Extensive and Minute Sketch of Its Cities ... War Record, Biographical Sketches, published 1880 - Horicon City

Disasters On Horicon Lake

While Horicon Lake was a navigable body of water, two appalling calamities occurred upon it, recollections of which will ever remain fresh in the minds of the people of Dodge County. The firsi of these took place about four or five miles from the village of Horicon in July, 1857, a scow, containing a crew of seventeen men engaged in rafting logs from Chester bridge, being struck by lightning during a terrible hurricane.

Read the rest of this passage

In the county-history sources

52,221 words on this township

The History of Dodge County, Wisconsin, Containing ... Its Early Settlement, Growth ... an Extensive and Minute Sketch of Its Cities ... War Record, Biographical Sketches, published 1880 names this settlement in its chapter on Horicon City. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Owing to the accumulation of county records and a large increase in the business pertaining to the county offices, three or four years after the completion and occupation of the old Court House, it was discovered that the building was inadequate for the accommodation of all the officers, and it became necessary to provide new quarters for them. With this end in view, a small one-story brick building was erected two or three rods north of the Court House, wherein were located the offices of all the county's servants, save that of the Sheriff and the chambers of tlie Judge of the Court. For several years, the county building, as it was called, sheltered the County Treasurer, the County Clerk, the Register of Deeds and the Clerk of the Court ; but as the business and documents of these officers increased, more room being needed than the place afforded, the Clerk of the Court went b.ack to his original quarters in the Court House, leaving the Treasurer, Register and County Clerk in the little brick, where they remained until the 5th day of September, 1877. About half-past 2 o'clock, on the morning of the 6th, the building was totally destroyed by fire, together with most of the records of the county. The flames were first discovered issuing from the roof of the building by a lodger in the Juneau House. When the doors were foi'ced open the roof fell in upon the blazing documents, burying them in a smouldering mass of burning debris. From the apartmeni occupied by the County Clerk, the tax-roll records and the two latest order-books were saved. Some tax-sale records and the vouchers of the County Treasurer were rescued from the office of Treasurer Traynor, the vouchers being in the safe. The plat-books, tract index and forty-seven volumes of the oldest mortgages, most of them being satisfied, were saved from the Register's office. Speculation has ever since been rife as to the cause of the fire, but the general impression, backed up by the logic of subsequent events, is that it was an incendiary's work. No reasonable estimate can be placed upon the loss to the county.

Passage source: The History of Dodge County, Wisconsin, Containing ... Its Early Settlement, Growth ... an Extensive and Minute Sketch of Its Cities ... War Record, Biographical Sketches, published 1880.

No more appropriate place could be selected within this work for a brief recital of an ugly transaction, still fresh in the minds of every one in Dodge County. At a special meetmg of the Board of Supervisors held May, 8, 1878 - eight months after the destructioji of the County Building by fire, and three days after the burning of the Treasurer's temporary office, south of the old Court House - called "for the transaction of business of a pressing nature," the following resolution was submitted by the Hon. Sat. Clark, of Horicon, and adopted :

The first fair of the Society was held at Juneau, probably the same year of its organization, although the record left shows that it was " on Thursday of last year." Among those receiving premiums were G. C. Gunn, Dr. Atwood, Joel Rich, David Barber, S. H. Coleman, George R. Clapp, F. H. Roper and S. J. Glover, for different kinds of stock ; J. C. Brown for poultry and boots ; A. Olson, for buggy ; S. Sti'eeter, for best thrashing machine ; Paul Juneau, C. Billinghurst, G. C. Gunn, N. E. Allen, Herman Grube and S. W. Lyman, for vegetables ; and in the ladies' department, Mrs. George R. Clapp, Mrs. Atwater, Mrs. W. H. Lander, Mrs. S. H. Allen, Mrs. J. C. Brown, and others, received premiums for specimens of their handiwork. On miscellaneous articles, a premium of $1 was awarded to " Rich & Grout, Horicon, for one bar of wrought iron, manufactured this forenoon from the Iron Ridge ore in this county, which is the first of the kind ever made in the county, and the Committee consider it equal to the best Swedes."

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Horicon City - it names this place 46 more 46 times.

Fires near this place

10 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 10 fires within 5 miles of Horicon between 1994 and 2012, burning about 709 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 3 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Arson/incendiarism	3
Debris and open burning	2
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	2
Equipment and vehicle use	2
Natural	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
21 September 2005	Debris and open burning	280 acres	Horicon National Wildlife Refuge	DNR CLARK'S DITCH
7 July 2012	Equipment and vehicle use	42 acres	Horicon National Wildlife Refuge	DEERE WF
20 May 1994	Arson/incendiarism	2.0 acres	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	not named
1 May 1996	Arson/incendiarism	1.2 acres	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	not named
9 April 2012	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	4.5 acres	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	not named
23 April 1994	Debris and open burning	2.5 acres	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	not named
22 April 1994	Equipment and vehicle use	4.0 acres	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	not named
18 April 2002	Natural	360 acres	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	not named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Dodge County

Mines and quarries near this place

7 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Horicon: 4 past producers, 2 producers, 1 unknown. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Calcium. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status
Mayville White Lime Quarry	Calcium	Producer
Bartosch Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Dodge County Hwy. Dept.	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown
Horicon Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Kranich Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Linck-Henes Construction Co., Inc.	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Roll Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Dodge County

Storms near this place

21 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Horicon in 21 storm reports between 1994 and 2026: 7 hail, 7 thunderstorm wind, 3 tornado, 2 funnel cloud. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
May 2025	Tornado (EF2)	Horicon	$3,400,000	Tornado began southwest of Mayville just west of Highway 28 which was also captured on video as a potential multi-vortex tornado. Some of the more intense damage occurred shortly after the tornado developed and crossed County Rd TW on into southwest Mayville in an industrial area. A farmhouse on Cty RW lost a portion of its roof and some farm sheds. The tornado then moved through the industrial area in southwest Mayville. The Mayville Engineering Company was hit on its northwest corner. The winds from the tornado breached a large garage door on the west side which then pushed the large north end wall down. The tornado then went through the Gleason Reel Corporation and destroyed the southern portion of the building. It then went through a neighborhood near the St. John/Graceland cemetary before crossing Main St/Rock River. The tornado then went through the east side of Mayville near the Mayville Golf Course. It then continued to the northeast through mainly rural areas before ending NW of Theresa.
June 2000	Tornado (F2)	Horicon	$1,110,000	no account filed
June 1996	Thunderstorm Wind	Horicon	$20,000	no account filed
October 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Horicon	$10,000	no account filed
June 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Horicon	$3,000	Scattered branches and trees down in the Horicon area.
June 2000	Hail	Horicon	$3,000	no account filed
June 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Horicon	$1,000	Many trees down along Raasch Hill Road. Six inch diameter branches hanging in the power lines.
March 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Horicon	-	Large tree down in Horicon.
June 2014	Heavy Rain	Horicon	-	A shallow layer of mud flowing across the road due to an estimated one inch of rain in 20 minutes and a plugged culvert.
August 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Horicon	-	County sheriff deputies reported trees were blown down by the strong thunderstorm gusts.
July 2003	Tornado (F0)	Horicon	-	A brief, weak tornado spun up on the edge of the Horicon Marsh, northwest of the city of Horicon, resulting in only minor vegetative damage.
September 1994	Hail	Horicon	-	Severe thunderstorms deposited hail up to the size of golf balls over parts of Dodge County. About 100 vehicles received hail damage in Beaver Dam, nearly 50 of them on one auto dealer's lot.
April 2026	Hail	Horicon	-	no account filed
April 2018	Hail	Horicon	-	no account filed
February 2017	Hail	Horicon	-	no account filed
June 2006	Funnel Cloud	Horicon	-	no account filed
August 2006	Hail	Horicon	-	no account filed
June 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Horicon	-	no account filed
July 2005	Funnel Cloud	Horicon	-	no account filed
April 2002	Lightning	Horicon	-	no account filed
March 2000	Hail	Horicon	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Dodge County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Minnesota Junction	3.5 miles	10
Juneau	5.0 miles	10
Neda	5.4 miles	10
Mayville	5.4 miles	10
Burnett	5.4 miles	10
Rolling Prairie	5.5 miles	10
Iron Ridge	6.3 miles	10
Kekoskee	6.6 miles	10

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on Horicon	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q767576	The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1566696. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.