Cooksville in Rock County, Wisconsin — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)
Village of Cooksville
⎯⎯⎯
Village of Waucoma
Photographed by Keith L, September 23, 2009
1. Village of Cooksville Marker (front)
Village of Cooksville
Cooksville consists of two villages: Cooksville platted in 1842 and Waucoma platted in 1846. John and Daniel Cook settled here in 1840, establishing Cooksville on the Badfish Creek, where a sawmill was soon constructed. Dr. John Porter of Massachusetts laid out Waucoma east of Cooksville. The two villages were settled by people from New England, New York, the British Isles, and, later, Norway. But the village, known as Cooksville because of the post offices location, was by-passed by railroads in the 1860s, becoming “the town that time forgot.”
Village of Waucoma
The Village of Waucoma was established in 1846 by Dr. John Porter, who purchased land next to Cooksville from his Massachusetts friend, Senator Daniel Webster. Waucoma was laid out around a public square. Soon Greek Revival and Gothic Revival style houses, some of locally fired brick, were built by Yankee settlers, along with blacksmith shops, general stores, a hotel, a door and sash factory, a schoolhouse, and two churches. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, Cooksville is known as "a wee bit of New England in Wisconsin."
Erected 1996 by the Wisconsin Historical Society. (Marker Number 342.)
Topics and series. This historical
this page online
Location. 42° 50.103′ N, 89° 14.177′ W. Marker is in Cooksville, Wisconsin, in Rock County. It is at the intersection of North Church Street and State Highway 59, on the right when traveling north on North Church Street. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 11204 North Church Street, Evansville WI 53536, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Southeast Wisconsin and in Greater Madison. It is also in the American Midwest, on the Great Lakes, and in the Corn Belt. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture and also the Northwest Territory.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 9 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: CCC Veterans Memorial Bridge (approx. 4.9 miles away); Stoughton (approx. 5.6 miles away); The Stoughton Downtown Historic District (approx. 5.7 miles away); Main Street Historic District (approx. 5.7 miles away); East Park Historic District (approx. 5.8 miles away); Wisconsin's Tobacco Land (approx. 8.4 miles away); Albion Academy (approx. 9 miles away); Sheepskin School (approx. 9 miles away).
Another marker is no longer nearby. Yahara River (was approx. 3.8 miles away but has been confirmed missing).
Photographed by Keith L, September 23, 2009
2. Village of Waucoma Marker (back)
Photographed by Keith L, September 23, 2009
3. Village of Cooksville / Village of Waucoma Marker
Photographed by Keith L, September 23, 2009
4. Village of Cooksville / Village of Waucoma Marker
Photographed by Keith L, September 23, 2009
5. Historic Cooksville Schoolhouse on the Public Square
Photographed by Gary Sonnenberg, May 27, 2025
6. Cooksville Schoolhouse in 2025
Credits. This page was last revised on May 29, 2025. It was originally submitted on September 24, 2009, by Keith L of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. This page has been viewed 1,856 times since then and 43 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. submitted on September 24, 2009, by Keith L of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. 6. submitted on May 29, 2025, by Gary Sonnenberg of Waukesha, Wisconsin. • Craig Swain was the editor who published this page.
