Cheyenne Valley, Wisconsin

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Cheyenne Valley
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Cheyenne Valley
Coordinates: 43°38′59″N90°21′01″W / 43.649767°N 90.350399°W / 43.649767; -90.350399
Country United States
State Wisconsin
County Vernon

Cheyenne Valley, Wisconsin was a former community in Vernon County, Wisconsin. It was a multi-racial community and is primarily known as a 19th century rural African American settlement, which was the largest in the state. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

It is now the site of Cheyenne Settlers Heritage Park in Hillsboro, Wisconsin (across from Mount Vernon Cemetery), and it contains a historical marker erected in 1997 by the Wisconsin Historical Society (no. 383). [4]

History

Wesley Barton Wesley Barton.png
Wesley Barton

Cheyenne Valley, Wisconsin was named after a valley and is located off Wisconsin Highway 33, near Hillsboro and between Ontario and Hillsboro; the area had previously been a part of Forest, Vernon County, Wisconsin before it's establishment of a new community. [5] The settlement was created by nearly 150 African American settlers, who had moved north before the American Civil War with assistance by the Quakers. [4] [5] Most had worked as farmers in the area. [5] Another early Black farming settlement had formed around the same time period in Pleasant Ridge near Lancaster in Grant County, Wisconsin. [6]

The first settler was Walden Stewart in 1855, who was Black and born free in North Carolina. [7] Stewart was followed by five more Black families to the area, including the Bartons (Wesley Barton), Revels (Micajah Revels), Roberts (Ishmael Roberts), Waldrons (Samuel Waldron), and Basses (Elijah Bass). [5] [6] [8] A decade after the American Civil War had been a second wave of migration, which included in 1879 notable resident Thomas Shivers from Tennessee. [6] By 1870 there were eleven Black families (and some 62 people) living in the area. [5] [6]

Early settler Wesley Barton (c. 1824–?), founded the settlement of Barton Corners (sometimes written as Barton's Corners), now known as Burr Corners in Vernon County. [6] He also served as the first postmaster. [6]

Alga “Algie” Shivers (1889–1978), the son of Thomas Shivers, built and/or designed at least fifteen round barn s in the area. [9] [10] [11]

Modern history

For many years this was considered a "lost community" by historians, and it was brought forward in part through work by sociologist James Knox Phillips in the 1960s. [7]

In 2008, descendants from the Cheyenne Valley community gathered at Cardinal Stritch University to discuss their upbringing. [12]

The Cheyenne Valley Heritage Committee, and the Cheyenne Valley Heritage Road Tours are based in Hillsboro. [13]

References

  1. "Local History Topics: Cheyenne Valley". Vernon County History. Retrieved August 27, 2025.
  2. Mortensen, Becky (February 28, 2023). "3 Wisconsin places to visit for Black History Month". WUWM - Milwaukee's NPR. Retrieved August 27, 2025.
  3. "Lost Towns of Southern Wisconsin". Wisconsin Public Television. October 28, 2014. Archived from the original on November 28, 2016. Retrieved September 3, 2016.
  4. 1 2 "African American Settlers of Cheyenne Valley Historical Marker". Historical Marker Database (HMDB). Retrieved August 27, 2025.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Hardie, Chris (February 17, 2025). "Black pioneers settled in Wisconsin's Cheyenne Valley where they successfully farmed after the Civil War". Wisconsin State Farmer. Retrieved August 27, 2025.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Cooper, Zachary L. (1983). Coming Together, Coming Apart: Black Settlers in Rural Wisconsin : Teacher's Manual. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. p. 6.
  7. 1 2 Heasley, Lynne (April 19, 2012). A Thousand Pieces of Paradise: Landscape and Property in the Kickapoo Valley. University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 98, 226. ISBN   978-0-299-21393-0.
  8. "American Settlers of Cheyenne Valley". Cheyenne Valley Heritage Tour.
  9. "The Round Barns of Vernon County". Driftless Wisconsin. March 21, 2015. Retrieved August 27, 2025.
  10. Galligan, Jeff. "Algie Shivers and Round Barns of Vernon County". BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin. Retrieved August 27, 2025.
  11. "Round Barns of Vernon County". Vernon County History. Retrieved August 27, 2025.
  12. "Settlement at Hillsboro, WI". WUWM - Milwaukee's NPR. Retrieved August 27, 2025.
  13. "5 African American Cultural Sites in WI". TravelWisconsin. Retrieved August 27, 2025.