Courtesy of Galen's Travel Photos 'People and Places'

When Governor Henry Dodge addressed the joint session of the Legislature here on Oct. 25, 1836, the Territory of Wisconsin included all of present-day Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and part of the two Dakotas. The population was about equally divided east and west of the Mississippi. There was so much criticism of Gov. Dodge's choice of Belmont as the Territorial capital that he immediately offered to accept any location decided upon by a majority of the representatives. A bitter contest developed, with the Dubuque and Burlington (Iowa) delegations finally joining the eastern Wisconsin group to move the capital for one year to Burlington and thence permanently to Madison. The briefly-booming village of Belmont quickly declined. When the railroad by-passed it about two miles to the southeast many of the residents moved their buildings to "new" Belmont.

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