A Town Bypassed: Dover, Wisconsin

The United States of America has been a haven for immigrants literally since its inception, initially mostly from western Europe, and eventually the rest of the world. Towards this end in the 19th Century, the British Temperance Emigration Society was an organization formed in 1842, who's goal was to secure land in the United States for new immigrants from the United Kingdom.

The society moved 700 settlers into a new townsite in what was then the Wisconsin Territory in 1844. It became the town of Dover, and four years later, Wisconsin became a state.

Dover was initially prosperous; however when the Milwaukee Road built a railroad that bypassed Dover for the nearby town of Mazomanie, WI, most families relocated, and the town was abandoned shortly thereafter, reaching a population of zero around 1870, becoming another one of numerous ghost towns across Wisconsin and the rest of the US.

Wisconsin Historical Marker at the location of Dover.

Further reading: "Ghost Town Dover and the British Temperance Emigration Society" 

Thanks as always for reading!

Location: Dover, WI, USA

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