Readstown, Wisconsin

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1924 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Readstown Village. It lies in ZIP code area 54652. It stands on Day Creek. The Survey maps it on the Readstown quadrangle. 376 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 761 feet above sea level.

Readstown within Vernon County

Population over time

2 figures

Readstown fell from 415 to 376 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.

Year	People	Change
2010	415
2020	376	-39 (-9%)

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.

1924 USGS Gays Mills quadrangle1:62500
1926 USGS Gays Mills quadrangle1:62500
1958 USGS La Crosse quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
1961 USGS La Crosse quadrangle1:250000
1965 USGS La Crosse quadrangle1:250000
1966 USGS Gays Mills quadrangle1:62500
1976 USGS La Crosse quadrangle1:250000
1983 USGS Readstown quadrangle1:24000
1985 USGS Richland Center quadrangle1:100000

In the county-history sources

894 words on this township

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

In 1855 Daniel Read had platted a village to which he gave the name of Readstown. It is situated on a portion of sections 7 and 8, town 11, range 3, and lies upon both sides of the Kickapoo river. Mr. Read built the first house upon the site of the prospective village, in 1848. It was of round logs and located upon the east side of the river.

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 Readstown Village - it names this place 1 more 1 time.

Fires near this place

18 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 18 fires within 5 miles of Readstown between 1992 and 2020, burning about 116 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
Equipment and vehicle use	5
Debris and open burning	4
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	4
Recreation and ceremony	2
Power generation/transmission/distribution	1
Arson/incendiarism	1
Smoking	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
27 September 2012	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	HWY 61 FIRE
8 May 2020	Arson/incendiarism	35 acres	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	2020011
5 May 2014	Debris and open burning	11 acres	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	SOLDIERS GROVE
1 May 2018	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	2018013
8 April 2011	Debris and open burning	1.2 acres	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	HESTETUNE MESH FIRE
8 April 2005	Equipment and vehicle use	1.6 acres	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	not named
6 April 1992	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	not named
30 April 2020	Smoking	under an acre	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	2020008

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Vernon County

Storms near this place

34 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Readstown in 34 storm reports between 1998 and 2021: 20 flood, 6 thunderstorm wind, 5 hail, 3 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.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
August 2018	Flood	Readstown	$4,500,000	Runoff from heavy rain created historic flooding along the Kickapoo River in Readstown. The river established a new crest of record at 23.17 feet, which was over 12 feet above the flood stage. The flooding continued into early September.
June 2008	Flood	Readstown	$1,000,000	The Kickapoo River at Readstown crested at a record level of 19.65 feet around 7 a.m. on June 9. The previous record crest of 19.08 feet occurred on July 21, 1951. Flood stage is 12.0 feet.
August 2007	Flood	Readstown	$150,000	The Kickapoo River at Readstown established the second highest all-time crest of record when it reached 18.82 feet on August 20. Flood stage is 12 feet.
July 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Readstown	$5,000	Trees and power lines were blown down in Readstown.
May 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Readstown	$4,000	Trees were blown down over the southeast part of Vernon County.
May 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Readstown	$2,000	Large trees blown down in Readstown.
June 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Readstown	$2,000	Numerous trees were reported blown down by thunderstorms winds. In addition, 2.65 inches of rain occurred.
June 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Readstown	$750	no account filed
August 2021	Flood	Readstown	-	Runoff from heavy rains pushed the Kickapoo River out of its banks in Readstown. The river crested almost three feet above the flood stage at 13.78 on the 9th.
August 2021	Flood	Readstown	-	Runoff from heavy rains pushed the Kickapoo River out of its banks in Readstown. The river crested almost two feet above the flood stage at 12.74 feet on the 28th.
October 2019	Flood	Readstown	-	Runoff from heavy rains pushed the Kickapoo River out of its banks in Readstown. The river crested less than a half foot above the flood stage at 11.36 feet.
July 2019	Flood	Readstown	-	Runoff from heavy rain pushed the Kickapoo River out of its banks in Readstown. The river crested almost four feet above the flood stage at 14.71 feet on the 19th.
September 2019	Flood	Readstown	-	Runoff from heavy rain pushed the Kickapoo River out of its banks in Readstown. The river crested just over a foot above the flood stage at 12.09 feet on the 21st.
April 2018	Flood	Readstown	-	Runoff from rain and snowmelt pushed the Kickapoo River out of its banks in Readstown. The river crested around a half foot above the flood stage at 11.53 feet.
May 2018	Flood	Readstown	-	Runoff from heavy rain pushed the Kickapoo River out of its banks in Readstown. The river crested over three feet above the flood stage at 14.2 feet on the 4th.
October 2018	Hail	Readstown	-	Nickel sized hail fell south of Readstown.
July 2017	Flood	Readstown	-	Runoff from heavy rains pushed the Kickapoo River out of its banks in Readstown. The river crested almost eight feet above the flood stage at 18.77 feet.
September 2016	Flood	Readstown	-	Runoff from heavy rain pushed the Kickapoo River out of its banks in Readstown. The river crested just over two feet above the flood stage at 13.02 feet.
September 2016	Heavy Rain	Readstown	-	In Readstown, 5.87 inches of rain fell.
September 2016	Flood	Readstown	-	Runoff from heavy rain pushed the Kickapoo River out of its banks in Readstown. The river crested just over seven feet above the flood stage at 18.08 feet.
December 2015	Flood	Readstown	-	Runoff from heavy rain pushed the Kickapoo River out of its banks in Readstown. The river crested at 13.05 feet, which was a little over two feet above the flood stage.
March 2014	Flood	Readstown	-	Runoff from rain and snow melt pushed the Kickapoo River out of its banks in Readstown. The river crested less than a half foot above the flood stage at 11.21 feet.
June 2014	Heavy Rain	Readstown	-	Near Readstown, 3.4 inches of rain fell.
June 2013	Flood	Readstown	-	Runoff from heavy rain pushed the Kickapoo River out of its banks twice in Readstown. The first event occurred from late in the evening of the 22nd into the afternoon of the 24th with a crest of almost a foot and a half over flood stage at 12.4 feet. The second event occurred from the early morning of the 25th to the afternoon of the 26th with a crest once again almost a foot and a half above the flood stage at 12.38 feet.
April 2013	Flood	Readstown	-	After several rounds of rainfall, the Kickapoo River at Readstown went above flood stage two times between April 10th and April 12th. The first round of flooding occurred on the 10th with a crest of 11.06 feet. The second round of flooding occurred on the 11th and 12th with a crest of 11.34 feet on the 12th. Flood stage at Readstown is 11 feet.
March 2011	Flood	Readstown	-	The combination of rainfall and melting snow pushed the Kickapoo River at Readstown out of its banks. The river exceeded the flood stage from the 22nd into the 25th. The river crested over a foot above the flood stage at 12.19 feet.
June 2011	Flood	Readstown	-	Locally heavy rains across Vernon County caused the Kickapoo River at Readstown to go out of its banks for a short period on the 19th. The river crested less than a foot over the flood stage at 11.38 feet.
June 2011	Heavy Rain	Readstown	-	A total of 4.22 inches of rain fell in the 24 hour period.
August 2010	Flood	Readstown	-	Locally heavy rains pushed the Kickapoo River out of its banks in Readstown from August 13th through the 16th. The river exceeded the flood stage by almost two feet, cresting at 13.98 feet.
July 2009	Hail	Readstown	-	no account filed
June 2008	Hail	Readstown	-	no account filed
April 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Readstown	-	no account filed
May 2002	Hail	Readstown	-	no account filed
July 1998	Hail	Readstown	-	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.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Folsom	4.3 miles	10
Sugar Grove	4.3 miles	10
Liberty	4.8 miles	12
Ross	6.3 miles	14
Brookville	6.4 miles	14
Liberty Pole	8.4 miles	10
Viroqua	10.1 miles	14
Fargo	10.5 miles	10

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 Readstown	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2134611	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 1572122. 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.

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.