John and Margaret Bell House

The highway from Lake Geneva to East Troy, by way of the village of Spring Prairie, is crossed by the railway 2.8 miles west of Lyons, on the south side of section 7. This road was for many years, before and after a station was made there, an important mail route, and hence a convenient point for retail trade, grain and wool buying, and lumber-selling. In the mid seventies considerable shipments of dressed poultry were made, largely to Boston buyers. Changes in the industries of the county, with consequent effects on the business of villages, have checked the growth of Springfield, though it is not yet a wholly deserted village. A fire in 1910 destroyed the station building. After more than a year of delay it was rebuilt, better than before, and this with a long line of wide cement platform shows that Springfield is yet of some importance to the railway company Amid the discontinuances of small postoffices the office at this place remains as one of the fourth class, indispensable for local and northern service. That part of the road between the station and Lake Geneva, about three and one-half miles, is a stage and mail route on which three trips are made daily, from the lake. For many years Ansel Knowles (died August 19, 1875), of Lake Geneva, made these trips through sunshine, rain and snow, and became well and favorably known to thousands of passengers.

Passage source: History of Walworth County, Wisconsin .., published 1912.

At the division of the county into five towns, January 2, 1838, the two townships, each numbered 3 north, lying in ranges 17 and 18 east, were included in the town of Spring Prairie, and were so joined until March 21, 1843. when the westernmost town was set off as Lafayette. The name was suggested to Mrs. Abigail A. ( Whitmore) Heminway by the natural features of the southern half of the town - the springs being in sections 19 and 20 and discharging themselves into Spring brook, a branch of Sugar creek. Rochester and Burlington lie eastward.

Passage source: History of Walworth County, Wisconsin .., published 1912.

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 Spring Prairie Town - 5,113 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.