Watertown Historical Society, Watertown, WI

08/25/2026

Library Park Watertown Public Library

08/20/2026

undated Dodge County Fair

I am being taken to Dodge County Fair this p.m. / Ken

08/12/2026

Music at the Museum will welcome Ladies Must Swing on Monday, Aug. 17 at 6:30 p.m. Join us at the Octagon House Museum & America's First Kindergarten for this special concert event!

The final concert of the Music at the Museum concert series is coming up on Monday, August 17 at the Octagon House Museum & America's First Kindergarten! Don't miss Ladies Must Swing Big Band, an award-winning, all-female Big Band featuring saxophones, trumpets, trombones, piano, bass, drums, guitar, and vocalists! Music begins at 6:30pm.

08/06/2026

Main Street STORE FRONTS, 2008

Shared album · Tap to view!

08/02/2026

1867 WATERTOWN IN 1847

Twenty-one years ago . . . , I first saw Watertown, and then begged hard to have my "lord and master" [horse] turn back among civilized people.

It did not seem possible that civilized people could exist in such a place

Streets with high sounding names, but filled with staves and stones and stumps, timber and tamarack poles, saw logs, emigrant wagons and other kinds of vehicles,

rough, uncouth-looking men, unkempt boys, Indians almost in a state of nudity, with here and there a woman hurrying by;

But the greatest curiosity was the German emigrants, without any knowledge of our language, but with wistful eyes peering into one's face as if to find friends far away from their native land.

I could not look at them and meet their eyes without feeling a greater degree of home-woe in sympathy with them.

M. C.

1867, The Watertown News

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In the year 1847, Watertown, (then part of the Wisconsin Territory), saw key milestones including the establishment of its first newspaper, the Watertown Chronicle, by J.A. Hadley, the founding of its early singing society, and continued pioneer growth along the Rock River.

07/30/2026

1976 U.S. BICENTENNIAL CONCERT AT RIVERSIDE PARK

RIVERSIDE PARK PORTFOLIO
https://goo.gl/photos/bCncTqrFk59UAejY8

07/26/2026

Happening today! Don’t miss this special event! Please bring a chair for seating.

07/20/2026

TONIGHT'S CONCERT POSTPONED!

Due to the potential for rain and wind this evening, the Music at the Museum concert featuring Eric Diamond and The Ultimate Legends Band is postponed until Tuesday, Aug. 4 at 6:30 p.m. Thank you for understanding.

Join us this Sunday, July 26 for the annual The 1st Brigade Band Concert & Ice Cream Social at the Octagon House Museum & America's First Kindergarten starting at 1:30 p.m. Please bring a chair due to limited bench seating.

07/17/2026

WATER WELL Octagon exterior