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Van Buren, Wisconsin

16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1900 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Potosi town. It lies in ZIP code area 53820. It stands on Potosi Creek. The Survey maps it on the Potosi quadrangle. It stands 656 feet above sea level.

Van Buren within Grant County

On record in Van Buren

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 within a mile 3 records

The National Register names another town for these. They stand within one mile of this settlement's coordinate.

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 16 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.

What happened here

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

From History of Grant County Wisconsin, published 1900 - Potosi Town

Thu Jim Crow Murder

In 1838 occurred the "Jim Crow " murder, which created great excitement, not only in Potosi but throughout the county. The Long Range, referred to on page 517, was discovered by one Phipps, who failed to find the main body of mineral and sold to Moore & Watson. The wealth soon developed in the lode tempted some persons to try to obtain forcible possession of it, and to accomplish this they enlisted two or three of a gang of ruffians who then infested the settlement, ready for any evil deed that promised plunder.

Read the rest of this passage

In the county-history sources

9,006 words on this township

History of Grant County, Wisconsin, published 1881; History of Grant County Wisconsin, published 1900 names this settlement in its chapter on Potosi Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

The lower part of the village, comprising the section whereon Hail's brewery is now situated, called Van Buren, with Lafayette still southward on the left bank of Grant River, previous to the building up of Potosi proper, were the principal business portions of the town. The former place is known as the "Van Buren Entry," having been originally entered by Joseph Wooley and Robert Templeton prior to 1849. It was reserved from sale for a time by the Government on account of being mineral lands ; , but, as the story goes, witnesses were hired to go -over it blindfolded, then taken to the land-office and sworn that they had been all over the ground and could see no mineral. This may or may not be true, but the sections were never of any great moment as mining ground, and the Government lost nothing in the sale of these rough -and broken points.

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

But the outrage aroused the people and the gang were again ar¬ rested and brought before Justice Nelson Dewey at Lancaster for trial. They brought strong influence to bear to clear themselves, but they found the Governor-to-be of quite different stuff from thePotosi justice, and they were sent to Prairie du Chien for safe keeping until their trial in the district court. But they soon got free on a writ of habeas corpus, granted by Judge Dunn, much to the dissatisfaction of the majority of the people.

Passage source: History of Grant County Wisconsin, published 1900.

The gang, including Rountree, Clark, and Harper, were compelled to leave the settlement. A meeting of the citizens also discussed the question of driving out Dr. Allen Hill, a friend of Rountree and Clark. But the Doctor himself took the floor with a rifle, and with great de¬ cision, enveloped in a good deal of profanity, informed the meeting that they could not drive him out and should not discuss the matter, and that he should shoot the first man that made a movement or spoke a syllable in an attempt to drive him out. The meeting at once adjourned informally, each man getting out of the room as quickly and quietly as possible.

Passage source: History of Grant County Wisconsin, published 1900.

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 Potosi Town - it names this place 3 more 3 times.

Fires near this place

4 since 2018

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 4 fires within 5 miles of Van Buren between 2018 and 2020, burning about 20 acres in total. None started naturally. None 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/undetermined3
Debris and open burning1

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 June 2018Debris and open burning1.0 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources2618
27 April 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources2320
19 March 2018Missing data/not specified/undetermined17 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources1218
17 March 2018Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources1118

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Grant County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 21 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 21 workings within 5 miles of Van Buren: 10 unknowns, 8 past producers, 2 producers, 1 occurrence. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Lead, Zinc, 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
Beecher Sand Ltd.Sand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Bell QuarryStoneUnknown
Morsehead QuarryStoneUnknown
Ulbircht-Schaefer QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Ulbrick QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Cardiff Mine No. 2Zinc, LeadPast Producer
Cardiff No. 1 MineZinc, LeadUnknownSphalerite
Cardiff No. 2 MineZinc, LeadUnknownSphalerite
Horseshoe MineZinc, LeadUnknown
Horseshoe MineZinc, LeadPast Producer

Every working 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.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Potosi1.2 miles16
Tennyson2.3 miles16
British Hollow2.9 miles16
Buena Vista3.2 miles16
Rockville4.2 miles16
Burton5.6 miles16
McCartney6.7 miles16
Dickeyville7.9 miles17

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 Van BurenAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q7913176The 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 1840556. 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.