10/01/2026
The Jefferson Historical Museum will be celebrating the 190th anniversary of the city’s founding with a free concert Sunday, Oct. 11.
Featuring patriotic music provided by the Kettle Moraine Blues Band, this family-friendly event will take place at 2 p.m. in the Jefferson City Hall building.
Refreshments will be provided. Attendees should enter through the city hall’s Main Street entrance.
The Kettle Moraine Blues Band is a regional musical ensemble and Palmyra-Eagle Community Band offshoot that has been active since 2013. Directed by Jim Neist, it is known both for general variety/patriotic performances and themed historical musical programs such as this one celebrating Jefferson’s 190th year.
According to the Jefferson Historical Society, early explorers originally called Jefferson "The City in the Woods.” In February of 1836, Timothy Johnson arrived by canoe and built a small hut at the confluence of the Crawfish and Rock rivers.
He remained there through summer, and then traveled north to Aztalan, on to "Johnson's Creek" and later to Watertown.
In the spring of 1836, members of the Rock River Land and Claim Company appeared on their way to build a sawmill in Bark River, which soon was renamed Bark River Mills and, in 1847, Hebron. Later, Peter and James Rogan built a small shanty near the Johnson hut on their way to settling in Watertown.
December of 1836 generally is considered the date of Jefferson’s founding. Early settlers arrived by boat at an inlet in the Rock River Woods that covered the entire area, their surnames including Foster, Rogan, Dodge, Currier and Lansing. Rodney J. Currier and Andrew Lansing were the first to live here through the winter months.
On Dec. 25, 1836, Capt. Robert Masters located his claim to land one mile south of the current city limits along the western bank of the Rock River. The following year, he returned with his daughter, Imogene, who is considered to have been the first White woman in Jefferson.
Village lots were laid out in 1838 and the community was named "Jefferson" because Masters was from Jefferson County, New York.
There are many Jefferson “firsts” worth mentioning.
In the spring of 1837, Enoch Darling floated a raft containing a frame house built at the Bark River sawmill onto the Rock River, landing at an inlet in the Rock River Woods. The first permanent building in Jefferson, it served as the family home, a hotel, a tavern and courthouse.
Fire destroyed it in 1844, and another “Jefferson House” (or “J. House”) was built in almost the same location.
More families arrived during the summer of 1837. They began to cut down the Rock River Woods to create walking paths and roads for horse travel.
In November of that year, the first session of circuit court was held in the “J. House" bar room.
The following spring, the first school opened on the banks of the Crawfish River. Children had to ride a boat across the Rock River to get there.
Also that year, Alonzo Wing erected a building for a store. That fall, William Sanborn was hired to build the first courthouse and jail; he was paid in land.
In the spring of 1839, the first White child was born to Mr. and Mrs. Hiram Brittain. That fall, the first marriage in Jefferson was that of Martha Fellows and Frank Roberts.
Jefferson was chosen as the Jefferson County seat in 1856 due to its water power and river-navigation potential. One year later, it was incorporated as a village and then became an official city in March 1878 with a population just under 3,000.
The first German immigrants arrived in Jefferson in 1842. At the time, an acre of land cost 35 cents.
They originated largely from regions such as Brandenburg, Pomerania and, later, German-speaking parts of Bohemia. Drawn by cheap, fertile land and glowing letters from friends and relatives who had already made the journey, they traveled via the Erie Canal and Great Lakes to settle in eastern and southern Wisconsin counties.
By 1917, people of German heritage made up roughly 70 to 80 percent of the total population in Jefferson County.
To this day, Jefferson celebrates its German roots with the Gemuetlichkeit Days festival each fall.
