Elroy, WI

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Thomas Brown and Thomas Riddle made the first claim and settlement just north of the present City of Elroy in March, 1851. Two months later three Fowler brothers and a nephew that also made claims settled in this same area. When winter came, the community had grown to eight families, and the next spring a school was organized with Miss Emily Fowler as the first teacher.

The settlement grew and the need for closer communication with the outside world was required so an official post office was established. This office, which was named Fowler’s Prairie, opened on July 16, 1857 in the home of Reuben A. Fowler, the first postmaster. It was just east of the present Elroy-Sparta Trail and about one-half mile west of the present city limits.

The community prospered but it took the news that the railroad was coming that really caused the boom! By August 5, 1872, when the first train appeared, Elroy had doubled in size and as the railroad went on west and north Elroy became ready to incorporate. The community became a village on December 13, 1879, and on April 7, 1885 Elroy was a city and continued to grow until in 1905 the population was over 2,000.

The City of Elroy bought the old railroad depot and converted and remodeled it into Elroy’s fire station. The land on which the twenty stall round house stood since 1900 as well as most of the railroad yards in the City was also purchased and is now the location of several industrial buildings.