McFarland: The Englishman Who Built a Depot and Named a Town
Near Madison, Wisconsin
McFarland, Wisconsin sits on the eastern shore of Lake Waubesa just south of Madison, and it owes its existence to a British immigrant who worked for the railroad as a construction superintendent. William H. McFarland recognized in eighteen fifty-six that the line between Madison and Stoughton needed a depot.
He built one, had the village platted, and the community took his name. The following year he built his own house nearby, a Greek Revival structure that is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Early McFarland grew on wheat and tobacco farming, ice harvesting from Lake Waubesa, and a modest resort trade along the lake shore.
Today it is a suburb of Madison, but the McFarland House still stands near the original railroad corridor, a reminder that most Wisconsin towns began with someone deciding a stretch of track needed a place for passengers to wait.
