Milton is a city in Rock County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 5,716 at the 2020 census.
History
thumb|left|[[Milton House (Milton, Wisconsin)|Milton House]]
The city was formed as a result of the 1967 merger of the villages of Milton and Milton Junction. In November of that year, ballots were cast by 1,093 voters from both villages (Milton: 515 to 47 in favor of the merge; Milton Junction: 322 to 201 in favor of the merge), and the referendum to merge the two was approved by 77%.
Originally named Prairie du Lac, Milton was settled in 1838 by Joseph Goodrich, who came from Alfred, New York with his family to the locality for religious and educational reasons. As soon as he moved he organized a Seventh Day Baptist Church in November 1840, and in 1844 a school that would later become a college. He also built an inn, a Milton House, without crossing two trade routes.
The Milton House is today one of the oldest poured grout structures in the United States. A noted abolitionist, Goodrich is known to have helped fugitive slaves escape to freedom via the Underground Railroad.
It is believed that Milton is named after poet John Milton, author of "Paradise Lost," after a settler remarked that the town was his "Paradise Regained" after leaving his previous home, which he thought of as a paradise lost.