New Lisbon, Wisconsin

New Lisbon sits on the Lemonweir River in the heart of what would become Juneau County. The first settlers arrived in the eighteen forties, drawn by the river's potential for sawmills and grist mills. Amasa Wilson platted the village in eighteen fifty-five, and he and his partners lobbied to have the newly created Juneau County organized around New Lisbon as its county seat.

Juneau County was carved out in eighteen fifty-seven and named for Solomon Juneau, a Milwaukee fur trader and the city of Milwaukee's first mayor. The really transformative moment came the same year the railroad arrived. The La Crosse and Milwaukee Railroad reached New Lisbon in eighteen fifty-seven, connecting the Lemonweir Valley to Milwaukee markets and triggering a small boom.

Estimates put the area population at around twenty-five hundred in those early boom years. The timber eventually ran out and the population settled into something more modest, but New Lisbon was the first county seat, but Mauston took over that role in eighteen sixty-four.