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Janesville, Wisconsin

17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1891 and the latest in 1981. It stands in Janesville City. It lies in ZIP code area 53545. It stands on Spring Brook. The Survey maps it on the Janesville West quadrangle. 65,615 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 853 feet above sea level.

Research this city

Janesville within Rock County

On record in Janesville

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 12 of 39 shown

Every listing in Rock County

Population over time

2 figures

Janesville grew from 63,575 to 65,615 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.

YearPeople Change
201063,575
202065,615+2,040 (+3%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 17 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.

In the county-history sources

70,689 words on this township

History of Rock County, and Transactions of the Rock County Agricultural Society and Mechanics' Institute, published 1856 names this settlement in its chapter on Janesville City. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Janesville is the County Seat of Rock County. The city is beautifully located on the Rock River, nearly in the center of the county, twelve miles north of the Illinois State line, sixty-five miles west of Racine, the same distance from Milwaukee, and forty miles S. E. of Madison. Its history, so far as known, like most of the towns of the west, is comprised within a compass of twenty years. A silence rests upon the early history of this spot which the antiquarian in vain attempts to break. There are no ancient records of primeval times, no traditionary legends which carry us back to' the dreamy past, not even a national ballad to commemorate the deeds <rf the s;reat and good who here lived and died.

Passage source: History of Rock County, and Transactions of the Rock County Agricultural Society and Mechanics' Institute, published 1856.

Scattered in clusters on some of the beautiful eminences near town, are to be seen numbers of those mysterious mounds so common at the west, whose very silence points us to a former race who here dwelt, but who have left no other memorials than these hieroglyphics of their existence.

Passage source: History of Rock County, and Transactions of the Rock County Agricultural Society and Mechanics' Institute, published 1856.

And scarcely more intelligible are the traces left by the Aboriginees which preceded us. It is true the foot-prints of a numerous and powerful people were seen by the early settlers upon this river, and their trails, and burial places, and even fields of agriculture are still visible. But no record hands down to us the names of those who here lived and journeyed and died. No aged chieftain comes back from beyond the " Father of Waters '' to tell us the incidents of the last half century defore the " pale faces" came, or even to give us the name of the Indian village which lay spread out on the bottom land south of the bend in the river. The archives of the past contain little that is intelligible. Here and there a strange character or a mutilated line appears, but like the inscription on some ancient tomb-stone which time has been wearing away, all is indistinct and uncertain.

Passage source: History of Rock County, and Transactions of the Rock County Agricultural Society and Mechanics' Institute, published 1856.

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 Janesville City - it names this place 307 more 307 times.

Fires near this place

12 since 2018

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 12 fires within 5 miles of Janesville between 2018 and 2019, burning about 2 acres in total. None started naturally. None was 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined9
Debris and open burning2
Smoking1

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

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
7 August 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources6330
8 July 2019Debris and open burningunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources5344
7 July 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources5449
5 June 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources4517
29 April 2018Smoking1.0 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources3368
29 April 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources3363
23 April 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources279
13 April 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources2895

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Rock County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 10 workings within 5 miles of Janesville: 5 past producers, 4 producers, 1 unknown. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Stone. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Bass QuarryStoneUnknown
Austin QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Beaudin QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
County Shop QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
O'Leary QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Frank BrothersSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Janesville Pit & MillSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Rock County Pioneer Crusher 493Sand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Townline PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Wheeler PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Rock County

Storms near this place

60 of 67 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Janesville in 67 storm reports between 1994 and 2006: 31 thunderstorm wind, 14 hail, 12 lightning, 4 flood. The reports record 7 injuries. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 1998LightningJanesville5 hurtno account filed
August 1998Flash FloodJanesville1 hurt, $1,500,000no account filed
September 1997Strong WindJanesville1 hurt, $1,000no account filed
August 1998Flash FloodJanesville$550,000no account filed
May 1999Thunderstorm WindJanesville$175,000no account filed
July 1998Thunderstorm WindJanesville$100,000no account filed
July 1998LightningJanesville$50,000no account filed
May 1999LightningJanesville$40,000no account filed
May 1999LightningJanesville$40,000no account filed
July 1999LightningJanesville$35,000no account filed
March 2002LightningJanesville$30,000no account filed
May 2000LightningJanesville$25,000no account filed
August 2002LightningJanesville$20,000no account filed
June 1995Thunderstorm WindJanesville$20,000no account filed
June 1998Thunderstorm WindJanesville$19,000no account filed
July 2000Thunderstorm WindJanesville$15,000no account filed
July 2000LightningJanesville$10,000no account filed
May 1998Thunderstorm WindJanesville$7,000no account filed
April 1996LightningJanesville$7,000no account filed
April 1997Thunderstorm WindJanesville$5,000no account filed
June 1998Thunderstorm WindJanesville$4,000no account filed
August 2002LightningJanesville$2,500no account filed
July 1999Thunderstorm WindJanesville$2,000no account filed
July 1999Thunderstorm WindJanesville$1,500no account filed
June 1998Thunderstorm WindJanesville$1,500no account filed
March 2004Thunderstorm WindJanesville$1,000no account filed
February 1999LightningJanesville$1,000no account filed
June 1997Thunderstorm WindJanesville$1,000no account filed
September 1997Thunderstorm WindJanesville$1,000no account filed
May 1998Thunderstorm WindJanesville$500no account filed
May 2006Thunderstorm WindJanesville-Trees and powerlines down.
June 2006Thunderstorm WindJanesville-Trees down.
June 2006Thunderstorm WindJanesville-Widespread tree damage.
August 2006HailJanesville-no account filed
March 2005HailJanesville-no account filed
May 2005HailJanesville-no account filed
June 2005Thunderstorm WindJanesville-no account filed
June 2005Thunderstorm WindJanesville-no account filed
June 2005Thunderstorm WindJanesville-no account filed
June 2005Thunderstorm WindJanesville-no account filed
May 2005HailJanesville-no account filed
May 2005HailJanesville-no account filed
June 2005HailJanesville-no account filed
September 2005Thunderstorm WindJanesville-no account filed
May 2004Thunderstorm WindJanesville-no account filed
November 2003Heavy RainJanesville-no account filed
July 2003Thunderstorm WindJanesville-no account filed
August 2003HailJanesville-no account filed
April 2002HailJanesville-no account filed
July 2002Thunderstorm WindJanesville-no account filed
April 2001HailJanesville-no account filed
June 2001Thunderstorm WindJanesville-no account filed
June 2000Funnel CloudJanesville-no account filed
May 2000HailJanesville-no account filed
July 2000FloodJanesville-no account filed
August 2000FloodJanesville-no account filed
February 1999HailJanesville-no account filed
June 1999FloodJanesville-no account filed
June 1998HailJanesville-no account filed
June 1998HailJanesville-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Rock 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.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Anderson2.4 miles17
Afton6.1 miles16
Leyden6.7 miles16
Milton Junction7.5 miles19
Milton7.5 miles19
Emerald Grove7.5 miles18
Hanover8.2 miles16
Turtleville8.3 miles18

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 JanesvilleAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q257536The 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 1567100. 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.