Marquette County Courthouse on Tuesday July 28, 2015
Marquette County was created in 1836. It is named after the French explorer Father Jacques Marquette. Father Marquette along with Louis Jolliet explored the Great Lakes area and in particular found the route from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River; they were the first Europeans to explore the Mississippi River in 1673.
Montello is the county seat. Montello is located on the upper Fox River and was home to a granite quarry. The quarry has now been transformed into a park with several waterfalls. Montello is sometimes referred to as “Granite City” which is kind of a cool nickname.
The Marquette County courthouse is located at 77 West Park Street in Montello. It was built in 1918; it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. We stopped for a quick visit on Tuesday July 28, 2015; unfortunately we only had a few minutes to stop for pictures at the courthouse, so we didn’t really have a chance to see much of Montello.
I have been to Montello before: I visited along with my 8th grade Earth Science class to see the granite quarry. I don’t remember very much about the quarry except that it was a large hole in the ground in the center of the town. And I had learned enough about Earth Science to verify that the rocks being hauled out of the quarry were indeed granite!
I don’t have many other memories of Marquette County other than riding in the “Pedal and Party in Pardeeville with a Purpose” bike ride. The route is mostly in Columbia County, but on one out and back leg we ride along the road that forms the border between Columbia and Marquette counties, so I was just barely in Marquette County on this leg.