Union County FL432

Union County, established on October 1, 1921, is the smallest of Florida's 67 counties. Its 245 square miles are bounded by Baker County on the north and by the natural boundaries of Olustee Creek, the Santa Fe River and the New River. Once occupied by the Timucuan Indians, this area was a part of the Spanish Florida colony ceded to the United States in 1821. Early settlements, centered around Providence, a stage stopover, and Worthington Springs on the Santa Fe River, which were protected by military posts at Fort Ward and Fort Call during the Second Seminole War (1835-1842), while Fort Crabb secured the area north of Lake Butler. Cattle, lumber, and sea island cotton provided a basis for economic development, and in 1859, the town of Lake Butler was established as the county seat of the newly created New River County (later Bradford County in 1861). The lake and town were named after Colonel Robert Butler, the first Surveyor General of the Florida Territory. Growth and prosperity in the area were forestalled by the Civil War, and then hampered by the lack of adequate transportation facilities. But by 1890, the Georgia Southern and Florida Railroad had crossed the county, with depots at Lake Butler and Guilford. Lake Butler prospered and was incorporated as a city in 1893. The Jacksonville and Southwestern Railroad (later a branch of the Atlantic Coast Line) was completed in 1899, serving Raiford, Johnstown, Lake Butler, Danville, Dukes and Worthington Springs. Cattle, dairy and food crop production expanded after the boll weevil struck the cotton fields in 1918. Raiford was the center of lumber and naval stores operations, while Worthington Springs became a popular resort noted for its health-giving waters, and in 1913, a state prison farm established near Raiford provided additional economic stimulation and diversity to the local economy. By 1920, the demand for division of the area from Bradford County had peaked and on May 20, 1921, the State Legislature created Union County, from that portion west of the New River. The name Union was chosen to reflect unity. With a population of more than 10,000, Union County has retained its rural character. Forest products and agriculture continue to provide its economic base, supplemented by the state prisons, light manufacturing, and the trucking industries that have replaced the railroads as its transportation link with the nation.

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Russell House and Store VA675
The 19th century two-story flagstone covered Russell House represents a type of local architecture predominant in rural Northern Virginia from the mid-19th century to the 1960’s. The house, its barn, granary, and other outbuildings made up one of the last farms in eastern Prince William County. Originally a hog and dairy farm, it was converted to dairying in the 1950’s. The farm buildings were torn down in 1991. On this site also stood the Russell Store, the center of local commercial activity in the Bethel, Smoketown, Agnewville and Hoadley sections of the county. The two-story general store, dating from the early 1900s, was operated by Daisy Tavenner Russell from 1917 until 1977. It was razed in 1992.

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Minnieville PWC021
Nearby is Bel Air Plantation (c. 1740) burial site of Parson Mason Locke Weems, first biographer of George Washington. French and American troops moved through this community on their way to Yorktown in 1781. Northern dairymen developed large farms here in the early 19th century. The Confederate 3d Brigade was located in this area in 1861-62. On this corner stood the Minnieville Post Office (1884-1924)

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Rock River Industry WI271
Flowing through rich agricultural land, the Rock River provided needed water power for local Wisconsin industries. Among the earliest in the 1840's were flour and lumber mills, followed in the 1850's by woolen and paper mills and, later, cotton mills. Efficient farming was provided for with the manufacture of plows, reapers, twine binders, windmills, and platform and wagon scales for weighing grain. Farm wagons, carriages, sleighs and cutters, as well as furniture, were also early products of Rock River industry. So too were processed meats, churns and other dairy equipment for the farm. By the turn of the century, the early gasoline engine, motorized vehicles, machine tools and precision instruments were among familiar products of the valley, as were the electric brake and clutch. In more recent times, such Rock River industrial products as fountain pens, diesel engines, automobiles and paper-making machinery have become worldwide in their markets.

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Danish Cooperative Company WI173
On March 28, 1885 one of Wisconsin's first incorporated creameries was organized as the Luck Creamery Company. The "Organization Artikler" were published in Danish in the Polk County Press on November 18, 1885, and printed in English about a month later on December 12. The seven Danish emigrants declared that only members of the corporation could own stock in it, and the sale of one hundred sixty shares at $15 per share was authorized. The first creamery was built eight-tenths of a mile west of here on the north shore of Little Butternut Lake. The first butter maker was a Danish woman who made the butter in large wooden churns. In the early days the farmers brought their milk to the creamery in cans which had glass tubes or gauges on the side, marked down to one-eighth inches. The cream as shown by the gauge was measured and paid for by the inch. The cream was then skimmed off and the farmer kept the skimmed milk. Many groups of farmers adopted the cooperative principle to make dairying a leading industry in Wisconsin.

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Rustic Road WI232
This historical marker commemorates the first official Rustic Road in Wisconsin following state legislation authorizing the maintenance and identification of scenic roadways under the State Rustic Roads Board of the Department of Transportation. With its dedication September 27, 1975, this road became one of the first roads in the nation to be preserved for its rustic and scenic characteristics. Rustic Road Number One winds for approximately five miles from this site, through outstanding forested glacial topography. When originally laid out as a town road in 1895, the surveyors attempted to follow surveyed section lines, but the road had to be curved around the numerous lakes it encountered. The road has been witness to the cutting of the original pine and hardwood forest, the collection of hemlock bark for a now defunct tanning industry, and the creation and later abandonment of dairy farms. Rustic Road Number One is intended by the Rustic Roads Board to be the first of a statewide network of Rustic Roads maintained for "unhurried, quiet and leisurely enjoyment."

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Wisconsin's Lime Industry WI279

Lime production was an important nineteenth-century industry in southeastern Wisconsin, primarily because the region's geology provided abundant Silurian dolomite rock that was easily quarried. High-quality lime, used mainly in mortar and plaster, was produced by burning dolomite in wood-fired stone kilns. Over one million barrels of lime were produced annually in the 1880s, some shipped to surrounding states. Many of the lime manufacturers also quarried limestone used in building construction and praised for its beauty and durability.

The limeworks of Trimborn Farm Park and nearby quarries represent a relatively unaltered nineteenth- century example of the lime industry. Werner Trimborn began his lime business here in 1851, and it became one of the largest in Milwaukee County. The lime industry expanded with the construction boom in Milwaukee in the 1880s but then declined, ending about 1900 due to increased fuel costs and importation of new building materials. By then, dairying had become the main business of Trimborn Farm. The Trimborn barn and kilns and neighboring Jeremiah Curtin House remain as excellent examples of the use of local stone and lime.

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Denmark WI373
In 1848, immigrants from Langeland, Denmark, seeking economic opportunity and plentiful farmland, settled in this vicinity. The Danes purchased land here and called their early settlement "Copenhagen," later changed to Denmark. In subsequent years, German, Irish and Czech immigrants joined the Danes, and Denmark grew to be a prosperous farming and trading community. After a railroad line reached Denmark in 1906, the area became an important center for Wisconsin cheese and dairy production.

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Nation's First Cooperative Generating Station WI222
On Sunday, May 2, 1937, the Wisconsin Power Cooperative was organized by an assembly of farmers for the purpose of developing a generating and transmission facility to provide low-cost electric service for the rural areas of Buffalo, Chippewa, Clark, Dunn, Pierce, St. Croix, Taylor, and Trempealeau counties. Loans from the Rural Electrification Administration financed construction of the original station and transmission lines. Ground was broken on November 8, 1937, and on March 12, 1938, the nation's first cooperative generating station was ready for service. Transmission of electric energy into Buffalo and Trempealeau counties began on March 14, 1938, and into the remaining six counties by the end of that year. Additional generating units were added by late 1941, providing capacity to serve rural membership in Barron, Burnett, Eau Claire, Jackson, Polk, Rusk, and Sawyer counties. On December 16, 1941, Wisconsin Power Cooperative was merged with the Tri-State Power Cooperative of Genoa to form the Dairyland Power Cooperative of La Crosse. This historic plant was retired from service and dismantled during 1975.

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Dutchess County NY1
Dutchess County, extending from the Hudson River to the Taconic Mountains, stretched originally from Westchester to Albany County. It was formed in 1683 and named for the wife of the Duke of York. Principally a rolling upland, cut by streams and deep valleys, it was divided into large land grants. Dutch settled along the river banks before 1690. In the 18th century the interior was occupied by French Huguenots, German Palatines, and Quakers from Connecticut and Long Island.

Ore deposits in the Taconics, led to small iron works in the 18th century. Shipbuilding flourished in river communities. In the 1830's and '40s, whalers from Poughkeepsie ventured to distant seas. Abundant water power contributed to the growth of textile factories. Twentieth century industries include publishing and manufacture of dairy appliances and business machines. The interior is still a prosperous agricultural area, specializing in fruit, livestock and dairy products.

Poughkeepsie was settled in 1687 and is the county seat. The State Legislature met there several times between 1777 and the 1790's. Vassar College was founded there in 1861. Large estates of wealthy and prominent families, such as those of the Roosevelts, Vanderbilts, and Ogden Mills, have occupied prospects along the Hudson.

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