Built in 1871. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.
“The Boscobel Grand Army of the Republic Hall is located in Boscobel, Wisconsin. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.”
Wikipedia article Boscobel Grand Army of the Republic Hall, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 36 National Register listings published here for Grant County · listed in 2007 · category: Building · built in 1871.
Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service
The chapter on Boscobel City in History of Grant County, Wisconsin, published 1881; History of Grant County Wisconsin, published 1900 names Boscobel. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.
Bloomington Lodge, No. 159, 1. 0. 0. F. - Was instituted December 9, 1868. The charter members were T. J. Brooks, E. Mount, Jesse Brooks, F. F. Grant, George W. Nevins and Alonzo Wilson. The lodge was instituted by D. D. G. M. H. Favor, of Boscobel. The first initiates were Brothers S. Woodhouse, D. L. Riley, I. McWilliams, G. W. Harger, C. R. Thomas, Robert Hicks and L. Hoskins. As ancients, Alfred Green, John Woodhouse, H. N. Johnson, M. Hadley and J. H. Sneclode. Of the first elective oflBcers, T. J. Brooks has ceased to be a member. Brother Mount has long since slept the sleep that knows no waking. Brother F. F. Grant remains and also Mr. Jesse Brooks. Of the first initiates three have ceased to be members, but all are living. Of those who first joined as A. 0., Brother John Woodhouse has joined that lodge whose Master's rulings have no mistakes. Brothers Grant, Kidd and Nevina were the first on whom degrees were conferred ; Brothers Grant, Hadley and Riley constituted the first committee to draft a constitution and by-laws. The second elective officers were Brothers Mount, N. G.; M. Hadley, V. G.; C. R. Thomas, R. G.; and R. Hicks, Treasurer. The Secretaries, with rare exceptions, have succeeded to the V. G.'s Chair, and, with more rare exceptions, the V. G.'s to the N. G.'s Chair. The receipts of the lodge for the first term amounted to $468.12, and the expenditures to $372.23.
Passage source: History of Grant County, Wisconsin, published 1881.
The land on which the city was located was bought in 1854 by C. K. Dean, Adam E. Ray, and John Mortimer. The first-named, after¬ ward a prominent citizen of the place, was then a civil engineer em- ployed by the Milwaukee & Mississippi (now the St. Paul) Railroad. The village was surveyed in 1856 by John Mortimer, and named Bos cobel. A good deal of misinformation has been written about the origin of this name. Of course, it is from the French bosque belle, beau¬ tiful woods, but as there has been a Boscobel somewhat prominent in the annals of England for centuries, the name cannot correctly be said to have originated in the inspiration of either the engineer or officials of the railroad which was then being built there. The original plat was afterward enlarged by Parker's, Brown's, Brindley's, and Wat¬ kins's additions.
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 Boscobel City - 45,101 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 83 fires within 5 miles of Boscobel Grand Army of the Republic Hall between 1993 and 2020, burning about 118 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 7 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 burning | 30 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 17 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 7 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 6 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 3 |
| Natural | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Other causes | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 September 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 27 September 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 25 September 1999 | Smoking | 1.6 acres | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 21 September 2004 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 11 September 2003 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 28 August 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | BROKEN TINE |
| 2 August 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 2 August 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Boscobel Grand Army of the Republic Hall: 1 plant, 1 past producer, 1 producer. 2 still produce. What was taken out: 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edward Kraemer and Sons, Inc. | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Plant | ||
| Salzgeber Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Staskal and Son-Sand and Gravel | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Boscobel, the town this property stands in, in 33 storm reports between 1995 and 2021: 14 thunderstorm wind, 9 hail, 4 flood, 3 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2013 | Flash Flood | Boscobel | $7,100,000 | Very heavy rain produced flash flooding across the northeast part of Grant County. |In Boscobel, numerous houses became surrounded by water with evacuations needed, most streets were flooded and cars were under water. 650 homes were impacted by the flood waters with two dozen families displaced. County Roads M and S near Boscobel were impassable due to high water and several other county roads between Blue River and Fennimore were covered with water and impassable. Portions of County Road C southwest of Woodman were under water. The flooding washed out sections of State Highway 133 outside of Woodman and Blue River. Debris was washed down Glass Hollow and Dry Hollow Creeks where it became lodged across railroad bridges in Bagley producing flooding in the town. The railroad tracks through Woodman were washed out. Flooding debris blocked some roads around Patch Grove. 54 canoeists had to be rescued from the Wisconsin River because of rising water. |
| August 2021 | Tornado (EF3) | Boscobel | $430,000 | A NWS storm survey confirmed that an EF3 tornado occurred across northern Grant County. The tornado started in Boscobel where damage to trees, power poles and power lines occurred. The tornado then moved east/southeast before dissipating south of Blue River. Along the path, six homes sustained enough damage to be considered total losses while numerous other had minor to moderate damage. No injuries were reported. |
| July 2019 | Flash Flood | Boscobel | $410,000 | Slow moving thunderstorms dropped between 3 and 5 inches of rain across the northeast portion of Grant County. Runoff from the rain caused a mudslide to occur along County Highway M south of Blue River and water covered County Highway B southeast of Ellenboro. A mudslide near Glen Haven covered some railroad tracks resulting in a train derailment. Nine cars derailed with one partially going into the Mississippi River. |
| August 2010 | Flood | Boscobel | $300,000 | Widespread rainfall amounts of 2 to 3 inches fell in two hours across much of the eastern half of Grant County. Many roads throughout the county were underwater and closed temporarily, including U.S. Highway 151 near Platteville. Damage did occur to some roads as well as to homes and businesses. The cities that had the worst impacts included Boscobel, Fennimore, Livingston, Cuba City, Kieler, and Hazel Green. |
| June 1998 | Hail | Boscobel | $35,000 | no account filed |
| September 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Boscobel | $5,000 | Trees and powerlines were blown down in the city of Boscobel. |
| September 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Boscobel | $3,000 | A tree was was started on fire when it was blown onto a power line. |
| September 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Boscobel | $3,000 | Trees and power lines were blown down in Boscobel. |
| August 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Boscobel | $2,500 | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Boscobel | $2,000 | Trees were blown down in Boscobel. |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Boscobel | $2,000 | no account filed |
| August 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Boscobel | $2,000 | no account filed |
| September 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Boscobel | $2,000 | no account filed |
| August 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Boscobel | $1,000 | A road was blocked in Boscobel when a large tree was blown down. |
| September 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Boscobel | $500 | An estimated 60 mph wind gust occurred in Boscobel blowing down some small tree branches. |
| July 2019 | Flood | Boscobel | - | After thunderstorms dropped between 2 and 5 inches of rain across much of Grant County, several rivers and streams flooded including the Little Platte, Platte and Grant rivers. |
| June 2014 | Flood | Boscobel | - | Heavy rain caused street flooding to occur in Boscobel. |
| June 2013 | Flood | Boscobel | - | Locally heavy rain caused some street flooding in Boscobel. |
| June 2013 | Heavy Rain | Boscobel | - | The mesonet observing equipment in Boscobel measured 7.79 inches of rain. |
| July 2019 | Hail | Boscobel | - | no account filed |
| June 2017 | Hail | Boscobel | - | no account filed |
| April 2014 | Hail | Boscobel | - | no account filed |
| April 2014 | Hail | Boscobel | - | no account filed |
| June 2013 | Hail | Boscobel | - | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Funnel Cloud | Boscobel | - | no account filed |
| July 2008 | Hail | Boscobel | - | no account filed |
| September 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Boscobel | - | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Hail | Boscobel | - | no account filed |
| June 2003 | Hail | Boscobel | - | no account filed |
| April 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Boscobel | - | no account filed |
| June 1997 | Flash Flood | Boscobel | - | no account filed |
| August 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Boscobel | - | no account filed |
| April 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Boscobel | - | no account filed |
No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.
Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Central House Hotel | 0.2 miles | 1996 |
 | Boscobel High School | 0.2 miles | 1986 |
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 07001329 in Record Group 79. |
| Wikipedia article | Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA. |
| Grant County | All 36 listed properties in this county. |
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