Muscoda, Wisconsin

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1905 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Muscoda Village. It lies in ZIP code area 53573. The Survey maps it on the Muscoda quadrangle. 1,307 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 725 feet above sea level.

Muscoda within Grant County

On record in Muscoda

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 1 record

John Young Houselisted 1994

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 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.

1905 USGS Richland Center quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
1958 USGS La Crosse quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
1960 USGS Muscoda quadrangle1:62500
1961 USGS La Crosse quadrangle1:250000
1965 USGS La Crosse quadrangle1:250000
1976 USGS La Crosse quadrangle1:250000
1983 USGS Muscoda quadrangle1:24000
1985 USGS Richland Center quadrangle1:100000

What happened here

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

From History of Grant County, Wisconsin, published 1881 - Muscoda Village

Early History And Growth

There is a tradition that some English immigrants settled on the site of this village at a very early day and were massacred by the In¬ dians. Nothing definite is known about it, but on the strength of the tradition the place was called English Prairie until about 1840. The present name was evidently taken from Longfellow's Hiawatha in which is mentioned 44 the muscoda, the meadow." The place was also called Savannah.

Read the rest of this passage

In the county-history sources

9,009 words on this township

History of Grant County, Wisconsin, published 1881 names this settlement in its chapter on Muscoda Village. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

The town of Muscoda, occupying the extreme northeast corner of the county, claims a priority in history which is ante-dated by but few of the corporate divisions of the county. Tradition hath it that the feet of the first explorers, who, with dauntless hearts, penetrated the mysterious wilderness, and with unswerving faith pushed the sharp prow of their birch canoe through the lapping waters of the beautiful " Ouisconsin," that the feet of these explorers pressed the soil of the present town at a date cotemporaneous with their first appearance in search of the great river of which such wonderful tales had been told them by the dusky aborigines. Yet all this is mere tradition. The probabilities are that the excellent landing-place afibrded at this point might have attracted the attention of Marquette, Joliet, or, later on, Hennepin ; but there is nothing in the writings of these explorers or their biographers that places the fact even within the widest boundary of certainty.

Passage source: History of Grant County, Wisconsin, published 1881.

The first authentic knowledge possessed of any actual residents at this point gives this honor to parties by the name of Armstrong, who had a trading-post here, probably at a date immediately succeeding the Black Hawk war. But it is not until 1835 that the present town of Muscoda begins to take form and substance. During this year, Col. William S. Hamilton came in and erected a diamond blast furnace near what is now the intersection of Main and Seventh streets. The excellent landing-place and favorable facilities afforded for shipment appear to have induced this movement on the part of the Colonel. It did not, however, prove to be a paying investment, and was subsequently abandoned. The chimneys of the old furnace were standing so late as 1847, and the antiquarian of to-day may even still discover traces of the foundation near the river bank. The new settlement, as it appeared a few years later, is thus described by Mr. Charles Rodolf, at present living at Muscoda, enjoying the blessings of a green old age near the scene of his early hardships and trials :

Passage source: History of Grant County, Wisconsin, published 1881.

Muecoda, and I remember many evenings noticing some of the younger squaws sitting on the river bank singing Indian and French melodies. I remember one time, one Indian sold to F. J. Parrishone musk-rat skin for corn fifteen times. Parrish bought the skin of the Indian and threw it into a loft, and went for a few ears of corn. In the meantime, the Indian stole the skin and put it under his coat, so when Parrish returned he sold it to him again. This was repeated several times, Parrish each time going for corn, which was carried away each time by a squaw. Parrish all the time thought he was making a good trade.

Passage source: History of Grant County, Wisconsin, published 1881.

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 Muscoda Village - it names this place 19 more 19 times.

Fires near this place

127 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 127 fires within 5 miles of Muscoda between 1992 and 2020, burning about 450 acres in total. None started naturally. 14 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
Debris and open burning	41
Equipment and vehicle use	24
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	21
Arson/incendiarism	14
Railroad operations and maintenance	9
Smoking	7
Recreation and ceremony	4
Power generation/transmission/distribution	3
Other causes	2
Fireworks	1
Misuse of fire by a minor	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
5 August 2015	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	JACUZZI FIRE
4 August 2015	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	BUFFALO FIRE
25 August 2003	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	3.9 acres	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	not named
22 August 2003	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	not named
20 August 2003	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	not named
2 August 2008	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	not named
13 August 1995	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	not named
10 August 2015	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	600 BLOCK FIRE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Grant County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

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

Where	Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
	Adams Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
	Hogskin Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Grant County

Storms near this place

28 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Muscoda in 28 storm reports between 1998 and 2026: 9 flood, 7 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail, 3 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
June 2008	Flood	Muscoda	$750,000	Water was reported over numerous roads across the county.
June 2008	Flash Flood	Muscoda	$750,000	Numerous mudslides were reported, along with high water in valleys.
August 2005	Tornado (F1)	Muscoda	$100,000	no account filed
July 2020	Lightning	Muscoda	$50,000	A building near Muscoda was destroyed in a fire started by a lightning strike. Isolated thunderstorms moved across southwest Wisconsin during the evening of July 28th. It is believed that lightning hit a nearby pine tree with the resulting fire spreading to the building. The fire was not discovered until the following morning.
July 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Muscoda	$50,000	In the Muscoda industrial park, a roof was blown off a commercial building and a semi trailer was blown over.
July 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Muscoda	$50,000	Several trees fell on houses and a church in Muscoda causing significant roof damage.
June 1998	Hail	Muscoda	$50,000	no account filed
July 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Muscoda	$30,000	Power lines and trees were down throughout town.
March 2019	Flood	Muscoda	$15,000	Runoff from melting snow caused flooding to occur across Grant County. Numerous roads were closed county wide.
June 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Muscoda	$2,000	Several trees were blown down in Muscoda.
March 1998	Flood	Muscoda	$2,000	no account filed
April 2004	Hail	Muscoda	$800	no account filed
July 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Muscoda	$750	no account filed
August 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Muscoda	$500	Trees were knocked down along Ridge Road.
April 2026	Flood	Muscoda	-	Heavy rainfall from multiple rounds of thunderstorms during the middle of April resulted in the Wisconsin River at Muscoda rising into flood stage during the early morning hours on April 18th. The river crested in minor flood stage on April 19th during the early morning before falling below flood stage during the morning on April 21st.
August 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Muscoda	-	The public reported a large tree branch down in Muscoda.
August 2021	Funnel Cloud	Muscoda	-	A funnel cloud was sighted in Muscoda.
April 2019	Flood	Muscoda	-	Runoff from rain and melting snow pushed the Wisconsin River out of its banks in Muscoda. The river crested around a half foot above the flood stage at 9.55 feet on April 24th.
June 2014	Flood	Muscoda	-	Runoff from heavy rain caused street flooding to occur in Muscoda.
April 2014	Heavy Rain	Muscoda	-	South of Muscoda, 2.95 inches of rain fell.
June 2013	Heavy Rain	Muscoda	-	South of Muscoda, 5.4 inches of rain was reported.
May 2013	Funnel Cloud	Muscoda	-	Funnel clouds were sighted near Muscoda.
May 2013	Funnel Cloud	Muscoda	-	A funnel cloud was sighted southwest of Muscoda.
May 2012	Hail	Muscoda	-	Pea to dime sized hail fell in Muscoda.
April 2011	Flood	Muscoda	-	The combination of melting snow and rainfall in late March and early April pushed the Wisconsin River out of its banks at Muscoda for a short period on the 16th. The river crested less than a tenth of a foot above the flood stage at 9.07 feet.
October 2010	Flood	Muscoda	-	The flooding that began in late September along the Wisconsin River at Muscoda came to an end as the river went below flood stage.
September 2010	Flood	Muscoda	-	Heavy rains in the middle part of September across parts of Wisconsin produced flooding along the Wisconsin River at Muscoda. The river exceeded the flood stage from September 28th through the remainder of the month. The river crested over a half foot above the flood stage at 9.56 feet. This was the first time since 1993 that the Wisconsin River at Muscoda had exceeded the flood stage.
June 2009	Hail	Muscoda	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Grant 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
Evergreen Terrace	0.4 miles	10
Blue River	6.6 miles	10
Hickory Grove	9.9 miles	10
Castle Rock	10.6 miles	10
Homer	11.5 miles	10
Centerville	11.6 miles	10
Boscobel	14.3 miles	10
Montfort	14.7 miles	13

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 Muscoda	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2159614	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 1570054. 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.