American Midwestern states got their population boom after the British withdrawal that ended the war of 1812. A spate of new territories sprang up — the Northwest Territory (1788-1800), Indiana Territory (1800-1809), Illinois Territory (1809-1818), and Michigan Territory (1818-1836), and somehow the residents of the land of Wisconsin would up being part of each them, in turn. When a local land speculator, James Duane Doty, heard Congress was considering creating a territory out of Wisconsin (provided it had a large enough population), he acted quickly to push the measure through.

On this day, April 20, in 1836, spurred in no small part by Doty, who organized the population census of the projected Wisconsin territory, Congress passed an act to create the new division.

Doty rewarded himself for his quick action by buying up land in a pristine division of the new territories, one of the sites of a proposed capitol. Realizing he stood to gain a fortune if his site was chosen, he did everything he could to persuade voters to vote his way. Doty was not above petty bribery, either — he gave out a wagonload of buffalo coats to the delegates debating the city location. Not surprising, his location was the clear favorite.