Oak Grove, Wisconsin
10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1991. It stands in Oak Grove town. It lies in ZIP code area 53039. The Survey maps it on the Horicon quadrangle. It stands 863 feet above sea level.
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 10 printed sheetsMatched 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
In the county-history sources
26,438 words on this townshipThe 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 Oak Grove Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.
Oak Grove was on the direct line north from Watertown, and here the roads forked, one leading to the northeast and the other to the northwest ; therefore, an inn here could be said to be a halfway-house, and travelers generally endeavored to make it convenient to reach this place to spend the night. As travel increased, the necessity for greater accommodations became apparent, and Ethan Owen erected another public house, known as Owen's Hotel, and still this did not satisfy the demand ; therefore, in 1851, another was built, called the Green Mountain House. As many as three hundred teams of " movers " have been counted passing this point in one day, and they were constantly going and coming. Of course inn-keepers thrived.
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.
The settlement being formed, it became necessary to give it a name, and that of Fairfield was selected, but when application was made for a post office it was learned that there was another Fairfield in the State, therefore it was thought best to select a different name. It was then given the name of Oak Grove, though for what reason is unknown, probably from the fact that there was no oak grove in the neighborhood. If an old settler is asked the reason why the place is called Oak Grove, he will reply as did the Dutchman, when speaking of the name of his son, " I call him Yaucob pecause dat ish his name." We call it Oak Grove because that is its name.
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.
Application was made in due time for the establishment of a post office in the place, and the powers that be in Washington gave heed to the prayer of the petitioners, and Ethan Owen had the privilege of first entering the service of Uncle Sam as village Postmaster. The first mail route established was between Watertown and Fox Lake, running once a week. Other routes were soon added, and Oak Grove became quite a distributing center, the citizens of the whole country lying between Fox Lake and Watertown here receiving their mail. The following-named have also served as Postmasters of the village : E. C. Lewis, A. H. Atwater, Mr. McCullough, William Ambright, John Currie, William Woodworth and John G. Lees, the latter of whom now occupies the position.
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.
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 Oak Grove Town - it names this place 61 more 61 times.
Fires near this place
5 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 5 fires within 5 miles of Oak Grove between 1992 and 2020, burning about 154 acres in total. None 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 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 September 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 138 acres | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 30 May 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | 2005142 |
| 5 April 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 5.0 acres | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | 405191 |
| 23 March 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 2.0 acres | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | 96 |
| 9 February 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 9.0 acres | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
3 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Oak Grove: 1 producer, 1 unknown, 1 past producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, 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.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dodge County Hwy. Dept. | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Budde-Miller Quarries | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| C C Linck Garage Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
2 since 2017Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Oak Grove in 2 storm reports between 2017 and 2022: 2 thunderstorm wind. 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.
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Juneau | 2.5 miles | 10 | |
| North Lowell | 2.9 miles | 10 | |
| Clyman Junction | 4.4 miles | 9 | |
| Lowell | 4.9 miles | 10 | |
| Rolling Prairie | 5.1 miles | 10 | |
| Minnesota Junction | 5.3 miles | 10 | |
| Clyman | 5.3 miles | 9 | |
| Leipsig | 6.4 miles | 11 |
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 Oak Grove | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q7073497 | 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 1570607. 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.






