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Shopiere, Wisconsin

18 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1980. It stands in Turtle town. It lies in ZIP code area 53525. The Survey maps it on the Shopiere quadrangle.

Shopiere within Rock County

On record in Shopiere

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

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 18 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

3,867 words on this township

History of Rock County, and Transactions of the Rock County Agricultural Society and Mechanics' Institute, published 1856 names this settlement in its chapter on Turtle Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Is a beautiful village in this town on Section 3. It is 9 miles South-east from Janesville, on Turtle jCreek, which gives.a water-power here of 9 feet head and fall, and is'. a very reliable' stream for supply of water. Here is a stone flouring mil), 4 stories high, running three pairs of burrs, and is completely finished throughout; cost $18,000i and built and owned by Hon, L. P. Harv6y and J. H. Randall. This mill grinds SOiOOO btishels of grain annually. A saw mill af this place, also, owned by the same; cuts annually'! 50,000 feet of oak lumber ; cdst $'2,000. Turtleville flouring mill is one mile below on the same stream. North of this village stretches Rock Prairie. South an extensive tract of timbered land, extending 7 miles. Abundance of excellent lime Stone is found in this vicinity, from whict the village' receives its name - a corruption of the French Chaux, (Sho,) signifying lime - pierre, signifying stone. Lime is made here of very expellerit quality. The Chicago, St. Pauls aud Fond du Lac Railroad passes through this place, crossing the Turtle on a fine, substantial bridge constructed by Hon. L. P. Harvey. The first settlers of this village were Caleb E. Culver, John Hopkins, J. H. Randall, A. W. Allyn, James Chamberlain and John Spencer. At aa early day, while Wis. was in its transition state from savage to civilized life, a distillery was established here, but wa.s discontinued after a few years, through the exertions and sacrifice of John Hopkins, Esq. ; to his credit be it said.

Passage source: History of Rock County, and Transactions of the Rock County Agricultural Society and Mechanics' Institute, published 1856.

The trophies consisted of three rakes, one fork, one pail of rations, : containing four yankee johnnyeakes, eight cold pota.toes, one jug of w;hisky, &c. From the above mentioned battle the place was ever after known as Waterloo, until changed: - on the establislynent of a Post OflBce - to the present name of Shopiere.

Passage source: History of Rock County, and Transactions of the Rock County Agricultural Society and Mechanics' Institute, published 1856.

About the same time, A. F. Lewis commenced another village, about one mile below on the same stream. Built a saw mill and opened a store; the first one within the present limits of Turtle. These were ever rival towns, and much strife existed between them : Turtleville claiming all the religion and morality; - Waterloo possessing all the whisky, drunkenness and swearings At a meeting of thirty citizens, to agree upon a name for the town, preparatory to an act of incorporation j and separate organization from Beloit, 29 voted for Waterloo* and only one, - B. E. Mack; - voted for the name of Turtle. When the matter went to the Legislature it was found that there was already one town in the State by that name, (Waterloo,) so it was incorporated by its present name. Such are a few early reminiscences of the early times in the history of this town. I am, &c.,

Passage source: History of Rock County, and Transactions of the Rock County Agricultural Society and Mechanics' Institute, published 1856.

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 Turtle Town - it names this place 6 more 6 times.

Fires near this place

13 since 2018

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 13 fires within 5 miles of Shopiere between 2018 and 2020, burning about 61 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined7
Debris and open burning3
Smoking1
Arson/incendiarism1
Recreation and ceremony1

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
18 July 2019Arson/incendiarismunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources2019-16
22 June 2019Debris and open burningunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources2019137
18 June 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources2020-11
22 May 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources1800001
2 May 2018Smokingunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources181786
6 April 2019Debris and open burningunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources19385
9 March 2018Missing data/not specified/undetermined25 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources2018048
5 March 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources18067

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Rock County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 14 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 14 workings within 5 miles of Shopiere: 9 producers, 5 past producers. 9 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, 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
Little QuarryStoneProducer
Bjoin QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Boutelle QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Dunn QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Dunn Trucking & Limestone QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Little QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Bradford Township PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Lathers PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Poff PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Rye PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Rock County

Storms near this place

4 since 2001

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Shopiere in 4 storm reports between 2001 and 2024: 1 funnel cloud, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado, 1 hail. 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 2006Tornado (F0)Shopiere-A brief tornado spun up 1.4 miles due south of Shopiere, or about 3.8 miles west-southwest of Clinton, very near the intersection of Hart Road and Butterfly Road. It resulted in some minor corn crop damage and tree damage, and was observed by 3 spotters. This very weak tornado spun up on a wind shift boundary that extended from near Racine to near Beloit. Showers and isolated thunderstorms developed along this boundary and produced several funnel clouds, and locally heavy rains. The tornado apparently developed from from the ground up since there wasn't any mesocyclone evidence on the WSR-88D Doppler radar. Atmospheric wind shear profiles were not supportive of rotating updrafts in thunderstorms.
March 2024HailShopiere-no account filed
September 2005Thunderstorm WindShopiere-no account filed
October 2001Funnel CloudShopiere-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Rock 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
Tiffany0.9 miles18
Turtleville1.3 miles18
Porters3.2 miles18
Clinton4.0 miles16
Foxhollow4.4 miles18
Garden Village5.0 miles16
Holiday Hills5.2 miles16
Crestview5.4 miles16

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1574070. 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.