Lodi dates to 1846, and 1 of its places is on the National Register
Most of Lodi was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1993. Its Register listing is the Goeres Park. Below: maps from 1895 on and the census since 1870.
The scenic Town of Lodi area had long been a home of Native Americans before the first settlers, Marston and George Bartholomew, arrived in 1845 and staked their claim. By 1846 a county government was established which created Pleasant Valley Precinct. The Town of Lodi was created in 1849.
Isaac Palmer founded the village of Lodi in 1846 in what was then the Pleasant Valley Precinct of the Wisconsin Territory. He named it after Lodi, in Italy. Palmer chose this glaciated valley as the location for the village because of its water power potential. Spring Creek powered a sawmill that year and a grist mill followed in 1850.
Passages that mention Lodi, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The history of Columbia county, Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement ..1880 · page 747Read the page →
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Town of Fountain Prairie— Village of Fall River— Town of Hampden— Town of Leeds — Town of Lewiston— Town of Lodi— Village of Lodi— Village of Okee. town of fountain prairie. At a meeting of the County Commissioners, held in 1846, all of Township 11, Range 12, together with other territory adjacent on the south, was made a voting precinct, and elections ordered held at the house of A. P. Birdsey ; and Asa Proctor, J. T. Lewis and Jeremiah Drake were appointed Judges of Election. At a further meeting of the board, held in January, 1849, the township was set oiF to itself and given the name of Fountain Prairie. The house of A. A.
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The history of Columbia county, Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement ..1880 · page 491Read the page →
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Chicago tf- North western. — A stretch of about seven and a half miles of this road passes through Columbia County. In 1870, the Baraboo Air Line Railroad Company was incorporated with authority to build a railroad from Columbus, AVatertown, Madison, or any point intermediate, via the village of Lodi, Baraboo, Abelman's Mills and Reedsburg, to Tomah, La Crosse, or any point on the Mississippi River above La Crosse. In 1871, the Baraboo Air Line Company was consolidated with the Beloit and Madison Company, and both were then consolidated with the Northwestern Company, and the construction of the road northwest of Madison, or the Madison Extension, as it was called, was rapidly pushed forward toward AVinona Junction, a distance of 129
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Lodi, 1846 to 1983
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikidata (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
