Cambridge, Wisconsin

The Cambridge Public School and High School is a historic school building constructed in 1905 in Cambridge, Wisconsin. Cambridge's early Yankee settlers valued education, and they constructed a school in 1848. It was a one-story wooden building, with its original location unknown. In 1869 it was replaced by a two-story wooden building on the site of the current school. In 1888 it was certified a three-year "free high school."In 1905 the old school was destroyed by fire. The school district responded quickly, commissioning the Des Moines firm of W.R. Parsons and Son to design the new school. The Chippewa Falls Construction Company won the bid, construction began in August, and the school was complete in January 1906. This building is two stories, clad in red brick, with a hip-and-deck roof. The corners of the building are decorated with dark brick quoins. The style is Georgian Revival with Romanesque Revival accents evident in the round arches and rusticated stone of the basement level. The new school featured many modern amenities, including a forced-air furnace and a ventilation system. The first floor was for elementary classes, with each room having its own small library. High school was upstairs. Despite some amenities, the building probably did not start out with running water (no toilets), and would not be wired for electricity until 1909.In 1938-39 the school building underwent significant renovations and a gymnasium and auditorium were added with support of a Public Works Administration grant. The addition was designed by Alfred H. Siewert of Milwaukee. His design used glued laminated wooden arches to support the gymnasium roof, which was rather state-of-the-art for the time.Other sections were added on in 1956, 1962 and 1990.In the years since, the schools have been split apart and moved to different locations and this building was converted to a museum. In 1998, the building was added to the State and the National Register of Historic Places.

Lake Ripley is a census-designated place (CDP), in the town of Oakland, Jefferson County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,911 at the 2020 census.

Rockdale is a village in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 207 at the 2020 census, making it the smallest incorporated municipality in Dane County. The village is split in half by the Koshkonong Creek. It is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area.

RockGen Energy Center is a 503-megawatt (MW) natural gas fired peaking power plant located near Cambridge, Wisconsin. According to Calpine, it was the largest peaking plant in Wisconsin at the time it was constructed.

London is an unincorporated community located in the counties of Dane and Jefferson in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The Dane County portion of London is in the town of Deerfield, while the Jefferson County portion is in the town of Lake Mills. London is on Wisconsin Highway 134, 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Cambridge.

Oakland is a town in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 3,100 at the 2010 census. The unincorporated communities of Breezy Knoll, Oakland, and Sylvan Mounds, as well as the census-designated place of Lake Ripley, are located in the town.

Kroghville is an unincorporated community located in the town of Lake Mills, Jefferson County, Wisconsin, United States. Kroghville is located on County Highway O, 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Cambridge. The community is named for Casper Krogh, a Norwegian emigrant who opened a sawmill in the area in the 1840s.

Deerfield is a village in Dane County, Wisconsin. The population was 2,319 at the time of the 2010 census. The village is located within the Town of Deerfield. It is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area. Towns and villages near Deerfield include Marshall, Medina, London, Cambridge, and Cottage Grove, Wisconsin.

WJJO (94.1 MHz "94-1 JJO") is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Watertown, Wisconsin, and serving the Madison metropolitan area. It has an active rock radio format and is owned by Mid-West Family Broadcasting. Its studios are on Rayovac Drive in Madison. WJJO is a Class B FM station. It has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 50,000 watts, the maximum for most stations in Southwest Wisconsin. The transmitter is on Wedvick Road in Deerfield.

Deerfield High School is a public high school located in Deerfield, Wisconsin. The school mascot is the Demon. It is located on 300 Simonson Blvd. The current principal is Brad Johnsrud. Deerfield High School is part of the Trailways conference for athletics and academic competitions. For cross country and soccer, Deerfield High School joins with Cambridge in a co-op for these two athletic activities.

Deerfield is a town in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,470 at the 2000 census. The Village of Deerfield is located within the town. The unincorporated communities of London and Old Deerfield are located in the town.

The Bedrud–Olson Farmstead is a highly intact tobacco and dairy farm with surviving buildings built between 1856 and 1915 in Christiana, Dane County, Wisconsin. It was added to the State and the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.In 1844, Tosten Lieberson Bedrud and Christie Gunderson Vossolt settled this farmstead after immigrating from Norway. They settled at the center of a small Norwegian farming community west of Lake Koshkonong. Tosten and Christie first built a dugout house near the site of the current house. At first they grew food to feed themselves.By 1856 they had added wheat-farming to their business and seven children to the family. In that year they replaced the sod house with a wooden house, which survives as the east ell of the current house. Tosten died in 1857. His son Hellick Tostenson bought the farm in 1874 and by 1877 it totaled 198 acres. (Note that these immigrants were so fresh that they named Hellick following the old Scandinavian system where his surname was his father's name followed by 'son,' rather than a family name.)Starting around the time of the Civil War, the farm began shifting from wheat to dairy, expanding the herd of cows. In 1883 Hellick built the current barn, with a limestone basement wall and cedar board and batten walls above. The barn had modern features for the time: two interior wood-stave silos, built in the year that the UW College of Agriculture first recommended silos for winter feeding. The barn also had calving pens, a gravity-driven water system, a manure disposal system, and ventilators. Those features remain largely unchanged, and were used into the 1960s. Also in 1883, the north-south ell of the house was added to make space for another family hired to help work the farm.In 1889 Hellick's sister Anna and her husband Anton Olson, another Norwegian immigrant, bought the farm. By this time tobacco production was becoming a significant part of the business, with about 15 acres in cultivation - the broad-leafed variety used for cigar wrappers that is commonly grown around Dane County. In 1890 they built what is now the northernmost tobacco-curing shed near the field north of the buildings. Every third board on the side is hinged, which let the farmer control the amount of air reaching the curing leaves hanging inside. Two other old curing sheds were moved nearby in 1906 and 1908. A stripping shed was built nearby in 1910, where the workers stripped the cured leaves from the stalks and packed them into crates to be sold.Henry and Martin Olson, sons of Anton and Anna, bought the farm in 1918, and farmed there into the 1970s. The old brothers changed the farm very little over the years. Other combination dairy/tobacco farms remain in the area, but this one is different in that it retains a full set of buildings from the late 1800s/early 1900s without newer buildings added.