Village of Prairie du Sac

The picture at the right is a bird's eye view of the Village of Prairie du Sac about 1873. The view is looking south east to the Wisconsin River. Across the river is the settlement of Clifton. The street following the river is Water Street, from Water St. to the bottom right of the picture is Fayette St. (Broadway today), going left from Fayette St. is Washington St., Center St. (Galena St. today), and Prairie St. From Water St. the cross streets in the picture are named streets today they are numbered streets. Those streets are Block Alley (First St.), Croton St. (Park Ave.), Oak St. (Third St.), Locust St. (Fourth St.), Park Ave. (Fifth St.), Grove St. (Sixth St.), un-named street (Seventh St.).

Incorporation
    On October 24, 1885, the village was incorporated. The election was held on September 21 with 61 voting for and 61 voting against. To break the tie vote a drawing of a ballot out of a hat was required. John Meyer was chosen to make the draw, which was for incorporation. The first village president was F. A. Oertel. The board meetings were usually held in the office of the clerk. In 1890, the board was meeting in the James Christian Plow Co. building in the 700 block of water street. In 1902, it was voted to purchase the Baxter House Hotel at 565 Water Street and an election was called for to issue bonds of $2,000. The election was 57 for and 34 against. In 1912, a committee consisting of Joe Dresen, J. B. Ragatz and E. D. Gruber was appointed to draw up plans for a village hall and library and use the generous $10,000 offer of J. S. Tripp to pay for it. The building was completed in October 1913 and stands today as the J. S. Tripp Memorial Museum of the Sauk Prairie Area Historical Society.

Water Works
    A special election for constructing a water works was held on January 14, 1913. A large majority voted for the construction and $30,000 in bonds were issued. The land for the pumping station was bought from E. E. Kindschi, the land for the water tower from Chass Becker. The contract for laying the pipe was given to Webber and Gay and the water tower to the Chicago Bridge and Iron Company. In 1916, Water Street was paved with with brick pavers. In 1923, "The First White Way" was completed between Sauk and Prairie with lights and sidewalk. In 1936, an election for the construction of a sewage system with Sauk City and the issue of $66,000 in bonds to cover it was called for. It was passed.

Library
    The Library began in the old Baxter House Hotel in 1900. In 1912 it moved out of the Baxter House to temporary quarters so the Baxter House could be moved to sixth street and a new building built in its place to house the Library and Village Hall. In 1913 the Public Library moved into the first floor of the just completed Tripp Memorial Library where it stayed until 1997 when it moved to the former Fire Station on Park Avenue. Louise Bailey was librarian for 40 years. In 1934, the Village Board accepted the generous gift of over 1000 mounted birds and animals donated by Dr. Ben Ochsner and Ed Ochsner. 325 of these birds are on display in the Ochsner Gallery of the Tripp Memorial Museum. Alice Graff was librarian for 30 years and Joann Glynn-Bacon for 12 years. John Thompson has been librarian for the last 15 years.