History of Janesville Told Through Photographs

Jan. 23, 2012 - PRLog -- New from Arcadia Publishing’s popular Images of America series is Janesville by local authors Judith Adler and Den Adler. This pictorial history boasts more than 200 vintage images and provides readers with a unique opportunity to reconnect with the history that shaped their community.

In 1837, Henry Janes, one of the area’s first settlers, proposed the name “Black Hawk” for the small southern Wisconsin settlement he lived in, but the US Post Office chose Janesville. The village along the Rock River was selected as the Rock County seat, and by 1860 it had grown to become Wisconsin’s second largest city.

Janesville developed into an important railroad town and, because of its waterpower, a milling and manufacturing center. General Motors built a large plant, and George Parker started the Parker Pen Company here. As the city grew, land was donated or set aside for recreation, and today Janesville calls itself Wisconsin’s Park Place. Its population has grown to more than 62,000.

Highlights of Janesville:
•   Images of Janesville from the 1860s to the 1970s.
•   Chapters on Janesville and its citizens at home, at work, and at play.
•   Images of early Janesville buildings which no longer exist, such as the Young America Block where Abraham Lincoln spoke in 1859.
•   Photographs of buildings, monuments, and other public works under construction.
•   Two images of the 1906 Washington Street washout.
•   Images of buildings on the Milwaukee Street Bridge and the fires that demolished them.

Authors Judith and Den Adler have studied Janesville’s history since coming to the city in 1970. The Craftsman-style stucco home they have owned for over 40 years will be 100 years old in 2012. After completing their 2010 Janesville publication as part of Arcadia’s Postcard History Series, they turned their attention to the 10,000-plus photographs in the archives of the Rock County Historical Society, as well as images from a recently discovered collection belonging to the City of Janesville’s engineering department, to produce this book.

A portion of the profits from the sale of the book are being donated to the Rock County Historical Society.

Available at area bookstores, independent retailers, and online retailers, or through Arcadia Publishing at (888)-313-2665 or www.arcadiapublishing.com.

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With more than 7,500 local history titles published to date, Arcadia Publishing is the leading publisher of local and regional history in the United States. Widely recognized sepia books feature hundreds of vintage historical images.