Built in 1853 (Greek Revival architecture). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
From the record
“The Frances Willard Schoolhouse is a one-room schoolhouse built in 1853 in Janesville, Wisconsin. Prominent women's suffragist and social reformer Frances Willard studied and taught there.”
Wikipedia article Frances Willard Schoolhouse, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 141 National Register listings published here for Rock County · listed in 1977 · category: Building · built in 1853, Greek Revival architecture.
National Register reference number.77000054- the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
Janesville is the County Seat of Rock County. The city is beautifully located on the Rock River, nearly in the center of the county, twelve miles north of the Illinois State line, sixty-five miles west of Racine, the same distance from Milwaukee, and forty miles S. E. of Madison. Its history, so far as known, like most of the towns of the west, is comprised within a compass of twenty years. A silence rests upon the early history of this spot which the antiquarian in vain attempts to break. There are no ancient records of primeval times, no traditionary legends which carry us back to' the dreamy past, not even a national ballad to commemorate the deeds <rf the s;reat and good who here lived and died.
This house was first kept by Mr. Janes, who was succeeded by Mr. Chas. Stevens, who also took charge of the ferry, which, in the mean time, had been established by Mn Janes and Aaron Walker. Mr. J. P. Dickson afterwards took charge of the public house and ferry, in which place he continued until the " Janesville Stage House ''was erected, in the fall of 1838, by Mr. Stevens, who was duly installed landlord of one of the first class public houses west of Lake MichigaUi That original building was 30 by 40 feet on the ground, and two stories in perpendicular height.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 13 fires within 5 miles of Frances Willard Schoolhouse
between 2018 and 2020, burning about 2 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/undetermined
9
Debris and open burning
3
Smoking
1
The most recent of
them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service
that recorded it.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
8 workings within 5 miles of Frances Willard Schoolhouse: 4 past producers, 3 producers, 1 unknown.
3 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.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Janesville, the town this property stands in, in 67 storm reports between 1994 and 2006: 31 thunderstorm wind, 14 hail, 12 lightning, 4 flood.
The reports record 7 injuries. 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.
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.
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 miles
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.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
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.
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