The Jefferson County courthouse on October 16, 2016
Jefferson County was created in 1836 from land that had been part of Milwaukee County. Depending on what source you are reading, the new county was either named after President Thomas Jefferson or Jefferson County in New York, which was named after Thomas Jefferson. Most of the settlers in the Jefferson County area came from New England and upstate New York.
The county seat is the City of Jefferson although the largest city in Jefferson County is Watertown. Interestingly enough, the county seat of Jefferson County, New York is Watertown. I’m sure that’s just a coincidence! The first European settlers came to what is now the City of Jefferson in 1836 after the end of the Blackhawk War. Jefferson was incorporated as a village in 1857 and it became a city in 1878. Jefferson is located where the Crawfish River joins the Rock River.
Note that Jefferson County is both a Presidential County as well as an Eponymous County!
Other cities in Jefferson County include Watertown, which is partially located in Dodge County, Fort Atkinson and Lake Mills.
The Jefferson County courthouse is located at 320 South Main Street in Jefferson. I visited Jefferson just after noon on Sunday October 16th, 2016. I was able to park right in front of what appears to be the main entrance on Main Street, but in fact the entrances to the courthouse and the sheriff’s offices are on the back side of the building on Center Avenue. As I walked around the building I saw the monument to K-9 police offices near the faux main entrance and the Civil War monument as I reached Center Avenue. I’m not sure when the current courthouse was built, but it clearly has been added onto and remodeled several times.
Just across Main Street is the Jefferson Public Library. I walked up to Dodge Street and then down to the Rock River and I saw the Jefferson City Hall and the Jefferson County Museum. There is a nice park that runs along the river from the dam upstream to the Milwaukee Street pedestrian bridge. After taking some photos, I walked back to the car and headed for home by way of the Tyranena Brewery in Lake Mills, which is about a 15 minute drive from Jefferson; I passed the Aztalan State Park just before I got to Lake Mills. The state park is along the Crawfish River upstream from where it flows into the Rock River in Jefferson.
I’ve got several connections with Jefferson County. I often visit Lake Mills; it’s a convenient place to stop if you’re driving between Madison and Milwaukee. Plus it is home to the Tyranena Brewery which is always worth a visit. Tyranena sponsors a half marathon in the fall which I’ve done twice; there is also a shorter run which I’ve done a few times. Lake Mills is on the Glacial Drumlin bike trail and I’ve ridden from Cottage Grove to Jefferson on the trail. In 2010 I rode my bike in the “Tour de Fort” metric century ride. This is a loop which begins and ends in Fort Atkinson. It was not a very happy ride to say the least; I would have been better off doing one of the shorter routes. The last rest stop was in Jefferson at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds, and then had to make our way back to Fort Atkinson.