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Sauk City, Wisconsin

22 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1895 and the latest in 1991. It stands in Sauk City Village. It lies in ZIP code area 53583. The Survey maps it on the Sauk City quadrangle. 3,518 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 741 feet above sea level.

Sauk City within Sauk County

On record in Sauk City

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 6 records

Population over time

2 figures

Sauk City grew from 3,410 to 3,518 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.

YearPeople Change
20103,410
20203,518+108 (+3%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 22 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.

In the county-history sources

28,526 words on this township

A Standard History of Sauk County, Wisconsin, published 1918 names this settlement in its chapter on Sauk City Village. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Black Hawk - Discontinued postoffice in the Town of Troy named for the Indian Chief, Black Hawk, leader of the Indians in the Black Hawk war. After the battle near Sauk City the Indians fled through the wilderness near where the hamlet is located.

Passage source: A Standard History of Sauk County, Wisconsin, published 1918.

Sauk City - Village first called Harszthy for Count Augustine Harszthy, one of the founders. The name was difficult to remember so it was changed to Westfield, but as the word city, when attached to names of places, was popular then,' it was later called Sauk City, after the name of the county.

Passage source: A Standard History of Sauk County, Wisconsin, published 1918.

The first meeting of the Old Settlers' Association of Sauk County was held June 20, 1872, in the grove near William Johnson's (Uncle Billy's) house, in the Town of Sumpter. In the following, its officers, well represented some of the best known pioneers then living: President, Charles Halasz, Sauk City; vice presidents, Cyrus Hill, Columbia County; William Johnson, Sumpter; J. Hatch, Baraboo; A. Hill, Prairie du Sac; Marvin Blake, Town of Baraboo ; J. Thilke, Town of Prairie du Sac; Enos Kimball, Freedom; secretary, William H. Canfield. Its members, who numbered more than 140, had settled in territorial times, previous to 1849. Archibald Barker, who came in June, 1837, the first of the living pioneers, gave place, in the estimation of some of the members, to Jonathan Hatch, the oldest actual settler then living in Sauk County. Uncle Billy Johnson came only a few months after Mr. Hatch.

Passage source: A Standard History of Sauk County, Wisconsin, published 1918.

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 Sauk City Village - it names this place 10 more 10 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 Sauk City between 1992 and 2020, burning about 389 acres in total. None started naturally. 4 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 burning49
Equipment and vehicle use35
Missing data/not specified/undetermined15
Recreation and ceremony8
Power generation/transmission/distribution5
Arson/incendiarism4
Smoking4
Misuse of fire by a minor4
Other causes2
Railroad operations and maintenance1

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
5 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
29 September 2012Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural ResourcesTRUSSEL SMOKE
6 August 2012Debris and open burningunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural ResourcesFITZGERALD YARD
5 August 2012Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural ResourcesSNUFFYS
27 August 2020Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural ResourcesBREUNIG RD
26 August 2020Debris and open burning1.9 acresWisconsin Department of Natural ResourcesMAGAZINE UNIT
24 August 2010Debris and open burningunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural ResourcesMATCH BAG
24 July 2008Recreation and ceremony4.8 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Sauk 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 Sauk City: 2 producers. All of them still produce. 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Matousek QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Pulvermacher PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Sauk County

Storms near this place

15 since 2006

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sauk City in 15 storm reports between 2006 and 2024: 6 thunderstorm wind, 5 hail, 2 lightning, 2 flash flood. 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 2007LightningSauk City$1,900,000Lightning struck a commerical peg farm near Sauk City, killing about 1900 pigs. The exact location of the farm isn't known.
August 2006LightningSauk City$25,000Lightning struck a home, resulting in a minor fire.
June 2014Thunderstorm WindSauk City$15,000Numerous trees down 18 to 24 inches in diameter.
July 2020Thunderstorm WindSauk City$5,000Some trees and power lines down in Sauk City.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindSauk City$5,000Trees and power lines down.
July 2023Thunderstorm WindSauk City$3,000A large branch around 8 inches in diameter down on a house.
June 2013Flash FloodSauk City$3,000A road 3 miles north of Sauk City was reported to be covered by 1 to 3 feet of water due to heavy rain.
May 2024Thunderstorm WindSauk City$2,000Scattered tree limbs down in Sauk City and Prairie Du Sac.
July 2019Flash FloodSauk City$500Highway 12 in Sauk City is closed due to heavy rainfall and flash flooding after a quick couple inches of rain.
July 2012Thunderstorm WindSauk City-Law enforcement officials reported building damage in Sauk City caused by severe thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at 80 mph (70 knots).
April 2014HailSauk City-no account filed
April 2013HailSauk City-no account filed
June 2010HailSauk City-no account filed
April 2008HailSauk City-no account filed
March 2007HailSauk City-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Sauk 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
Prairie du Sac1.1 miles22
Loddes Mill4.2 miles19
Moon Valley7.3 miles22
Bluffview7.4 miles19
Merrimac8.8 miles22
Witwen8.8 miles19
Maple Bluff Estates9.3 miles24
Denzer10.1 miles19

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 Sauk CityAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2166838The 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 1573732. 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.