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Liberty Pole, Wisconsin

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1924 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Franklin town. It lies in ZIP code area 54665. The Survey maps it on the Rising Sun quadrangle. It stands 1,201 feet above sea level.

Liberty Pole within Vernon County

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 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.

What happened here

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

From History of Vernon County, Wisconsin .., published 1884 - Franklin Town

Early Settlement

To John McCullougli is ascribed the honor of having made the first actual settlement in the town of Franklin. He came in 1844 and afterward entered land and did some breaking. The next spring he brought his family on. His claim was on section 25 of township 12, range west. In 1852 he, with a number of others, went to California, remained a year in the gold region, and wrote to his brother that he was about to return, but he was never afterward heard of, and it is supposed he perished on the plains.

Read the rest of this passage

In the county-history sources

7,303 words on this township

History of Vernon County, Wisconsin .., published 1884 names this settlement in its chapter on Franklin Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

No record having been preserved, nothing certain can be determined upon as to who the first officers were. Those of 188.3 were: Chris EUefson (chairman), Arne Larson,William Clawater, supervisors; Knute Peterson, treasurer; W. W. Johnson, assessor ; Forest F. W. Alexan<Ier, clerk ; O. S. Henry and Sidney Higgins, justices of the peace.

Passage source: History of Vernon County, Wisconsin .., published 1884.

Forest F. W. Alexander is the present town clerk of the town of Franklin. He resides on section 18, town 12, range 4 west. He has fifty acres of land, which he purchased of Harriet Dulap. He was born in Broome Co., N. Y., and came to Wisconsin with his father, who settled at Muscoda, Grant county. The family came to Vernon county in 1869 and settled at Liberty Pole. The father is now deceased. Forest has been generally engaged in clerking. He married Mary Crume, whose father was an e.irly settler of the town of Viroqua. They have three children - Florence M., Grace and Rue E.

Passage source: History of Vernon County, Wisconsin .., published 1884.

In district No. 5 the school house is situated in a beautiful grove, and is finely furnished with the most improved style of seats etc. The scholars are mostly Norwegian, who in winter time, furnish a large attendance and manifest much interest.

Passage source: History of Vernon County, Wisconsin .., published 1884.

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 Franklin Town - it names this place 24 more 24 times.

Fires near this place

11 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 11 fires within 5 miles of Liberty Pole between 1999 and 2020, burning about 4 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
Other causes1
Debris and open burning1

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
24 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources18180
12 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources20143
5 July 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources19144
13 May 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources20079
12 May 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources20073
26 April 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources18053
30 March 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources19063
30 March 1999Other causesunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Vernon County

Mines and quarries near this place

6 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Liberty Pole: 3 producers, 2 past producers, 1 unknown. 3 still produce. What was taken out: 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
Own CrewsStoneUnknown
Brooksville QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Cook QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Ellefson Brothers QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Liberty QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Roaring Forty QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer

Every working recorded in Vernon County

Storms near this place

9 since 2004

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Liberty Pole in 9 storm reports between 2004 and 2021: 5 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 1 tornado, 1 heavy rain. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
August 2010Thunderstorm WindLiberty Pole$27,000A swath of wind damage was found across central Vernon County southwest through south of Viroqua along County Road NN and Getter Road. In this area, approximately 4 miles southwest of Viroqua, a barn was damaged and a roof was taken off a garage. Farther east along Getter Road, a barn was leveled, a small metal shed was destroyed and a field of sunflowers was damaged. The damage was initially believed to be caused by a tornado, but the storm survey did not find sufficient evidence to classify this as a tornado.
June 2008Tornado (EF0)Liberty Pole$15,000A tornado touched down about 1 mile south of Liberty Pole, WI in rural Vernon County. This tornado hit a machine shed and tossed machinery into the air in addition to hitting nearby trees. It was rated an EF0.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindLiberty Pole$4,000Large trees were blown down south of Viroqua.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindLiberty Pole$2,000no account filed
July 2005Thunderstorm WindLiberty Pole$1,500no account filed
December 2021Thunderstorm WindLiberty Pole-A 62 mph wind gust was measured near Liberty Pole with a private weather station.
June 2014Heavy RainLiberty Pole-Near Viroqua, 3.7 inches of rain fell.
May 2019HailLiberty Pole-no account filed
May 2004HailLiberty Pole-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Vernon 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
Brookville3.4 miles14
Fargo3.5 miles10
Viroqua4.7 miles14
Folsom5.2 miles10
West Prairie6.2 miles18
Bud6.3 miles14
Springville6.7 miles14
Purdy7.6 miles11

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 Liberty PoleAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q6541922The 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 1568017. 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.