Lake Como, Wisconsin

19 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1980. It stands in Geneva town. It lies in ZIP code area 53147. The Survey maps it on the Walworth quadrangle. It stands 879 feet above sea level.

Lake Como within Walworth County

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 19 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.

1893 USGS Delavan quadrangle1:62500, 6 printings
1954 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:250000
1955 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:250000
1958 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
1960 USGS Delavan quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
1960 USGS Walworth quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
1963 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:250000
1980 USGS Lake Geneva quadrangle1:100000

In the county-history sources

15,313 words on this township

History of Walworth County, Wisconsin, Containing an Account of Its Settlement, Growth, Development and Resources...its War Record, Biographical Sketches, Portraits of Prominent Men and Early Settlers; the Whole Preceded by a History of Wisconsin...and an Abstract of Its Laws and Constitution.., published 1882 names this settlement in its chapter on Geneva Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

The surface of the land is undulating, with occasional hills in the eastern and southeastern sections of the town. It was, when first settled, heavily wooded, the gi-owth being largely of the different varieties of oak. It is well watered by small creeks and rills threading the various sections. Jackson's Creek, which rises on the northeastern quarter of Section 3, mns southwesterly thi'ough Section 9, thence westerly through the southeast (quarter of Section 8 and the northwest quarter of Section 9, leaving the township on Section 7. It finally empties into Delavan Lake. Another creek has its source on Section 2, runs in a southerly direction through Sections 11, 14 and 23, and joins the creek near the outlet of Lake Como (Duck Lake). From the outlet of Lake Como, Como Creek inins northeasterly thi-ough Section 24, emptying into White Biver in the adjoining town of Lyons. The southwestern section, where stands the beautiful village of Geneva Lake, is watered by the stream flowing from the outlet of Geneva Lake, the source of White River.

Passage source: History of Walworth County, Wisconsin, Containing an Account of Its Settlement, Growth, Development and Resources...its War Record, Biographical Sketches, Portraits of Prominent Men and Early Settlers; the Whole Preceded by a History of Wisconsin...and an Abstract of Its Laws and Constitution.., published 1882.

Lake Como (formerly known as Duck Lake) lies in the southeiTu part of the town. Its eastern extremity and outlet is on Section 26. It extends thi'ough Sections 27 and 28, the southeast corner of 29 and the northeast quarter of Section 32. It is three miles long, and averages half a mile in width. Geneva Lake, the most charming of all the lakes of Southern Wisconsin, extends all along the southern border of the town, the bay at its outlet lying in Section 36.

After the settlement with the contesting claimants, Payne remained but a few months at Geneva Village. Before the mill was completed, he sold out his interest, and, in January, 1837, took up a new claim at the outlet of Duck Lake (now Lake Como), about two miles from the village, where he removed his family. There he built a saw-mill at a cost of some $1,500. His dam was near the crossing of the Elkhorn and Geneva road. It lasted, with some repairs, till 1858, at which time a freshet dilapidated it beyond hope of repair.

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 Geneva Town - it names this place 2 more 2 times.

Fires near this place

14 since 2012

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 14 fires within 5 miles of Lake Como between 2012 and 2020, burning about 53 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 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
Debris and open burning	6
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	5
Smoking	1
Arson/incendiarism	1
Power generation/transmission/distribution	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
15 July 2019	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	297
3 June 2018	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	222
8 May 2018	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	1800429
26 May 2018	Smoking	1.0 acres	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	18-084
30 April 2018	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	1800394
28 April 2018	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	171
22 April 2018	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	1800363
22 April 2018	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	112

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Walworth County

Mines and quarries near this place

5 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Lake Como: 3 producers, 2 past producers. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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
Casey Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Devil's Hill Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Mann Brothers, Inc.	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Ryan Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Williams Bay Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer

Every working recorded in Walworth 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
Como	1.8 miles	19
Williams Bay	2.2 miles	19
East Delavan	3.4 miles	19
Lake Geneva	3.6 miles	19
Linton	3.9 miles	19
Shady Side (historical)	3.9 miles	19
Fontana	4.7 miles	19
Inlet	5.1 miles	19

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 Lake Como	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q6475437	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 1581195. 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.