Sauk County is a county in Wisconsin. It is named after a large village of the Sauk people. As of the 2020 census, the population was 65,763. Its county seat and largest city is Baraboo. The county was created in 1840 from Wisconsin Territory and organized in 1844. Sauk County comprises the Baraboo, WI Micropolitan Statistical Area and is included in the Greater Madison area.
History Sauk County was a New England settlement. The original founders of Sauk County consisted entirely of settlers from New England as well as some from upstate New York who had parents who moved to that region from New England shortly after the American Revolution. These people were "Yankee" settlers, that is to say they were descended from the English Puritans who settled New England in the 1600s. While most of them came to Wisconsin directly from New England, there were many who came from upstate New York. They were part of a wave of New England farmers who headed west into what was then the wilds of the Northwest Territory during the early 1800s. In the case of Wisconsin this migration primarily occurred in the 1830s. Due to the prevalence of New Englanders and New England transplants from upstate New York, Wisconsin was very culturally continuous with early New England culture for much of its early history.The Yankee Exodus: An Account of Migration from New England by Stewart Hall Holbrook University of Washington Press, 1968American Zion: The Old Testament as a Political Text from the Revolution to ... By Eran Shalev, Yale University Press, March 26, 2013 page 70-71
The Yankee migration to Wisconsin in the 1830s was a result of several factors, one of which was the overpopulation of New England. The old stock Yankee population had large families, often bearing up to ten children in one household. Most people were expected to have their own piece of land to farm, and due to the massive and nonstop population boom, land in New England became scarce as every son claimed his own farmstead. As a result, there was not enough land for every family to have a self-sustaining farm, and Yankee settlers began leaving New England for the Midwestern United States.
They were aided in this effort by the construction and completion of the Erie Canal which made traveling to the region much easier, causing an additional surge in migrants coming from New England. Added to this was the end of the Black Hawk War, which made the region much safer to travel through and settle in for white settlers.
They got to what is now Sauk County in the 1830s by sailing up the Wisconsin River from the Mississippi River on small barges which they constructed themselves out of materials obtained from the surrounding woodlands. When they arrived in what is now Sauk County there was nothing but dense virgin forest, the "Yankee" New Englanders laid out farms, constructed roads, erected government buildings and established post routes. They brought with them many of their Yankee New England values, such as a passion for education, establishing many schools as well as staunch support for abolitionism. They were mostly members of the Congregationalist Church though some were Episcopalian. Due to the second Great Awakening some of them had converted to Methodism and some became Baptist before moving to what is now Sauk County. Sauk County, like much of Wisconsin, would be culturally very continuous with early New England culture for most of its early history.Dean W. O'Brien, Polly E. O'Brien. Looking into History: The Sauk County Area Sauk County Historical Society, 2001.
In the late 1890s, German immigrants began to settle in Sauk County, making up less than one out of thirty settlers in the county before this date. Generally there was little conflict between them and the "Yankee" settlers, however when conflict did arise it focused around the issue of prohibition of alcohol. On this issue the Yankees were divided and the Germans almost unanimously were opposed to it, tipping the balance in favor of opposition to prohibition.Wisconsin Then and Now, Volumes 21-24 State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1974 pages 102-103, page 138 Later the two communities would be divided on the issue of World War I in which, once again, the Yankee community would be divided and the Germans were unanimously opposed to American entry into the war. The Yankee community was generally pro-British, however many of the Yankees also did not want America to enter the war themselves. The Germans were sympathetic to Germany and did not want the United States to enter into a war against Germany, but the Germans were not anti-British. Prior to World War I, many German community leaders in Wisconsin spoke openly and enthusiastically about how much better America was than Germany, due primarily (in their eyes) to the presence of English law and the English political culture the Americans had inherited from the colonial era, which they contrasted with the turmoil and oppression in Germany which they had so recently fled. In the early 1900s immigrants from Ireland, Sweden, Norway and Poland also arrived in Sauk County.The German Historians and England: A Study in Nineteenth-century Views By Charles E. McClelland pages 19, 136, 138. 176, 196 The area around Baraboo was first settled by Abe Wood in 1838, and was originally known as the village of Adams.The Wisconsin Blue Book 1929. Madison: Democrat Printing Company, 1929, p. 629. In 1846 it became the county seat of Sauk County after a fierce fight with the nearby village of Reedsburg."County Government: Why Adams County?" in Adams County Historical Society,From Past to Present: Adams County. Friendship, Wisconsin: New Past Press, 1999. In 1852, the village was renamed "Baraboo", after the nearby river. It was incorporated as a city in 1882."Term: Baraboo [brief history]" in Dictionary of Wisconsin History.
New England settlers set up several sawmills early in the history of what is now Baraboo because of its location near the Baraboo and Wisconsin Rivers.
The city was the home of the Ringling brothers. From 1884 to 1917 it was the headquarters of their circus and several others, leading to the nickname "Circus City". Today Circus World Museum is located in Baraboo. A living history museum, it has a collection of circus wagons and other circus artifacts. It also has the largest library of circus information in the United States.Bill Steigerwald. "Travels Without Charley: A beautiful lake and a movie palace await in Baraboo". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 17, 2010. Retrieved September 10, 2013. The museum previously hosted the Great Circus Parade, which carried circus wagons and performers through the streets of Baraboo, across the state by train, and then through downtown Milwaukee.
The Al. Ringling Theatre is a grand scale movie palace in downtown Baraboo, made possible through the financial assistance of the Ringling family. The Al Ringling home still exists.
Located near Baraboo is the Badger Army Ammunition Plant, which was the largest munitions factory in the world during World War II, when it was known as "Badger Ordnance Works". The plant is no longer in use.
The Culver's restaurant franchise has its headquarters in Prairie du Sac, and was first opened in Sauk City in 1984 by Craig Culver and his family. That same year, Cirrus Aircraft, now of Duluth, Minnesota, was founded in a rural Baraboo barn by brothers Alan and Dale Klapmeier to produce the VK-30 kit aircraft.The Museum of Flight. Lecture by Cirrus Aircraft CEO Dale Klapmeier archived at .Airport Journals. The Dream Brothers: Alan and Dale KlapmeierWisconsin Aviation Hall of Fame. Exciting News From the National Aviation Hall of Fame . December 19, 2013.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (2.1%) is water. Pewits Nest is located in Sauk County. Sauk Point is the county's highest point. The summit is nestled in the Baraboo bluffs and stands to above sea level.
Major highways
Interstate 90 Interstate 94 U.S. Highway 12 U.S. Highway 14 Highway 13 Highway 16 Highway 23 Highway 33 Highway 58 Highway 60 Highway 78 Highway 113 Highway 130 Highway 136 Highway 154
Railroads Amtrak Canadian Pacific Wisconsin and Southern Railroad
Buses Baraboo Transit
Airports Baraboo-Wisconsin Dells Airport (KDLL) serves the county and surrounding communities. Tri-County Regional Airport (KLNR) Sauk–Prairie Airport (91C) Reedsburg Municipal Airport (C35)
Adjacent counties Juneau County - north Adams County - northeast Columbia County - east Dane County - southeast Iowa County - south Richland County - west Vernon County - northwest
Demographics
Racial and ethnic composition +Sauk County, Wisconsin – Racial and ethnic compositionRace / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)Pop 1980 Pop 1990Pop 2000Pop 2010 Pop 2020% 1980% 1990% 2000% 2010% 2020White alone (NH)43,00446,34753,24157,33157,86898.93%98.66%96.41%92.51%87.99%Black or African American alone (NH)30531383305780.07%0.11%0.25%0.53%0.88%Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)1852864626907640.43%0.61%0.84%1.11%1.16%Asian alone (NH)79791433323940.18%0.17%0.26%0.54%0.60%Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)x included in the Asian category in the 1980 Censusx included in the Asian category in the 1990 Census91315xx0.02%0.02%0.02%Other race alone (NH)18312301480.04%0.01%0.02%0.05%0.23%Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)x not an option in the 1980 Censusx not an option in the 1990 Census2825751,946xx0.51%0.93%2.96%Hispanic or Latino (any race)1532079382,6754,0500.35%0.44%1.70%4.32%6.16%Total43,46946,97555,22561,97665,763 100.00%100.00%100.00%100.00%100.00%
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, the population was 65,763, the median age was 41.7 years, 22.1% of residents were under the age of 18, and 19.8% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 98.5 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 96.9 males age 18 and over.
The population density was . There were 30,784 housing units at an average density of .
The racial makeup of the county was 89.1% White, 0.9% Black or African American, 1.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6% Asian, <0.1% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 3.1% from some other race, and 4.9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 6.2% of the population.
55.3% of residents lived in urban areas, while 44.7% lived in rural areas.
There were 27,094 households in the county, of which 27.9% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 49.8% were married-couple households, 18.7% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 23.4% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 28.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
Of the housing units, 12.0% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 70.3% were owner-occupied and 29.7% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.9% and the rental vacancy rate was 6.9%.
2000 census