Koshkonong is a town in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 3,763 at the 2020 census. The town entirely surrounds the city of Fort Atkinson. The unincorporated communities of Koshkonong Mounds and Vinnie Ha Ha are located in the town. The unincorporated communities of Blackhawk Island and Koshkonong, as well as the census-designated place of Lake Koshkonong are also located partially in the town.

History

thumb|left|[[Albert and Mary Shekey House in Koshkonong]]

The Sauk, Meskwaki, Potawatomi, and Ho-Chunk peoples had members in the area when settlers arrived. The first Europeans to settle in the area were French traders from Canada. The region about the Yahara River was called Gishkzhegonang<!--unsyncoped: Gishkezhegwenang; c.f. Ojibwe: Giishkizhigwanaang--> (Catfish Place) by the Potawatomi peoples, and was transcribed into English as "Koshkonong." The Potawatomis called Lake Koshkonong as Éndayang-zagegen<!--c.f. Ojibwe: Endaayaang-zaaga'igan--> (Lake Where-we-live-on), but the early settlers began calling this lake in the Koshkonong region as Lake Koshkonong.

The first settlers for farming arrived around 1836. Under the government of the Wisconsin Territory, the town was originally named Finch in 1839, but was renamed Koshkonong in 1842. In 1840, Norwegian families from Telemark settled near Lake Muskego in Waukesha County. In 1841, what would become for a time the largest Norwegian-American community in America was founded at Koshkonong in eastern Dane and western Jefferson counties. It was started by settlers from the Jefferson Prairie Settlement and the Fox River Settlement. By 1850, over half of the Norwegian immigrants in Wisconsin lived in the Koshkonong Settlement, known as Kaskeland in Norwegian.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is land and , or 2.75%, is water.

The southeast shore of Lake Koshkonong forms part of the western border of the town.

U.S. Route 12 crosses the town from southeast to northwest, passing through Fort Atkinson.

Demographics

As of the census

  • Charles N. Herreid (1857–1928), governor of South Dakota

References

  • Town of Koshkonong, WI
  • Lake Koshkonong