Stoughton prepares for growth while preserving its history
- By Ashley Rodriguez for The Cap Times
- Jun 18, 2025
When the lease ended on the building occupied by Abel Contemporary Gallery in Paoli in 2018, Theresa Abel began searching for a new home for the space.
Abel bought the gallery with her husband, Tim O’Neill, in 2004. She said they “drew a circle around Madison and looked at communities that we thought had some charm.”
The two found what they were looking for in Stoughton, a historic city of 13,000 about 20 miles southeast of Madison. They purchased and restored an old tobacco warehouse on Main Street, adjacent to the Stoughton Railroad Department — the city’s original train depot, built in 1913. Just down the street is the Stoughton Opera House, which opened in 1901 and was restored in the late 1980s and ’90s to preserve its Victorian-era style.
At the time, Stoughton felt quiet. “People asked me if I knew Stoughton was going to be up and coming,” Abel said. “And I’m not that clever.”
Now, signs that Stoughton is on the precipice of change are everywhere: New construction is visible along the streets, businesses are thriving, and young families are relocating to the area.
Dane County plans to connect Stoughton to Madison via the Lower Yahara River Trail in the coming years. And new facilities are being built — cheesemaker Emmi Roth opened its Wisconsin headquarters in Stoughton in 2023. Stoughton Health opened a new outpatient center in May. Stoughton Trailers, a trucking manufacturer and one of the state’s largest employers, broke ground on its headquarters in 2024.
For 25 years, Stoughton’s population remained stable. But as housing costs have risen sharply in Madison, home buyers have looked toward Sun Prairie, Waunakee and Fitchburg as well as Oregon, Cottage Grove and Stoughton.
Stoughton residents can feel the swell of change coming, and the city is actively preparing for an influx of new residents drawn, like Abel, to the city’s charm and proximity to Madison.
However, change can be challenging in a historic town like Stoughton, known for its old buildings and charming Main Street but also for its Norwegian roots. The strong identity that makes Stoughton so appealing can slip away if growth isn’t carefully considered and planned for.
So, how are leaders thinking about this new phase for Stoughton? And how can a city with its identity closely tied to its history embrace an inevitable new chapter?
In Stoughton, anticipating growth
Stoughton was founded in 1847 by Luke Stoughton, who was living in Janesville and purchased land along the Yahara River (then known as the Catfish River).
Through the late 19th century, Norwegian immigrants moved to the area, and their impact still defines the city. Along with Syttende Mai, an annual celebration of Norway’s Constitution Day, dozens of Norwegian flags fly along Main Street.
The high school has a Norwegian Dancing team. Many people have rosemaling paintings outside their homes. It’s a form of artwork, especially popular in Norway, made from ornate and interwoven painting patterns of flowers and scrolls. Stoughton is home to Livsreise, a museum that chronicles the Norwegian immigration journey.
Stoughton hadn’t experienced much growth over the last 25 years, according to Mayor Tim Swadley. The last boom began in the 1980s — the population in 1980 was 7,589, and by 2000, it was 12,432, according to Wisconsin Census Data.
The population then began to plateau. In 2020, the census showed 13,137, a 5.6% change since 2000. In comparison, the U.S. population grew by about 17% over the same period.
Swadley, who was elected in 2018, said the increase in housing construction is one sign of growth.
“We want to become a welcoming community for all, and we’re trying to have housing options that accommodate everybody,” he said.
He points to Nordic Ridge, a newer development on the west side of town built by Eldon Homes, a developer with family roots in Stoughton (the group is also working on Magnolia Springs, a planned development on the southern end). Nordic Ridge has 164 single-family units, 10 duplexes and 79 multi-family units, Swadley said.
Every June, the Nordic Ridge Splash Pad and Park hosts Taste of Stoughton, an annual food festival now in its fifth year.
Swadley remembers the first Taste of Stoughton (he and his wife owned the Pizza Pit in Stoughton until 2022).
“It was like, maybe half a dozen of us,” he said. “Then they moved it over here,” Swadley said, pointing to the park, “and it kind of morphed, and it just got bigger and bigger.”
Swadley believes people are attracted to the small-town feel of Stoughton.
“People want to live in a town that still has that hometown feel, where you kind of know your neighbors, but yet have the amenities that they want,” he said.
Becker Professional Services is a planning and economic development services firm that helps communities and local governments assess a community’s needs and plan for the future. The company is helping Stoughton design its comprehensive plan, a layout to guide growth and development over the next 20 years.
“I’ve been working here since 1989,” said Gary Becker, the firm’s president. “Just the number of projects going on at the same time — that level of activity is higher than it’s ever been in the 30 plus years I’ve been working in Stoughton.”
Current projections, provided by Becker, estimate that Stoughton will grow at least 3.12% between 2020 and 2030. The firm said that population growth is difficult to project, especially for small towns like Stoughton. They believe that number (derived from projections from the state Department of Administration) is an underestimation. The firm sees other, measurable markers of growth.
For example, there were 90 building permits issued from 2024-2025, a 60.7% increase from the year before. Data from the city shows that 165 new housing units were built in 2024 and that housing development in general has been on the rise for seven years. (In 2010, just seven new housing units were built, and numbers hovered between 30-60 for most of the 2010s).
Becker projects that the city will add 821 new housing units between 2025 and 2030.
“Stoughton’s net new construction is more than double it was last year, and it’s one of the highest in Dane County,” Becker said.
Stoughton is also physically growing: In 2010, the city comprised 4.92 square miles of land; in 2023, it occupied 6.02 square miles of land.
Swadley said that homes are “selling … about as fast as they can build them.” One of the primary ways the city is responding to projected growth is through housing development. “We have three housing developments that are going on right now,” Swadley said.
He said they tried to work with developers who prioritized mixed-use development and would build not just single-family homes but also duplexes, apartment buildings and condominiums to give people multiple access points to renting and homeownership.
“We try to find the balance there,” Swadley said. “We understand what’s important to the community and to the (city) council — the developers often only understand what’s important for their firms.”
Small-town feel for new generations
One of Stoughton’s newer homeowners is Kelsey Prescott, 31, who bought a house in 2022. She and her husband were living in Middleton and “liked the small-town feel of Stoughton,” she said.
“I feel like we’re just like one big happy family in this town and are open to anything,” Prescott said.
She also joked that she was influenced to move to the area by her friend, Hallie Jahr.
Jahr, 32, grew up in Stoughton but left for college, moving back in 2021. “It was funny because I’ve always been like, ‘I’m never moving back to Stoughton,’ and we found the perfect house in Stoughton,” she said.
On a balmy day in June, Taurion Rather, who goes by TJ, was fishing on a bridge over the Yahara River, part of the Yahara River Trail. As he was fishing, an older man with a dog stopped to say hello. Rather greeted the dog, named Bella, and mentioned that it’s hard not to know everyone in a small town like this.
Rather moved to Stoughton from Massachusetts in 2020 and just graduated from Stoughton High School. He remembers not being excited to move to Stoughton because he “didn’t know what was here.” He’s gotten more comfortable in the city as he’s made friends.
“When I first moved here, I felt like the population was a lot smaller,” he said. “But (now), I feel like I see a lot of younger people” and more diversity.
Swadley said the city is working to attract people of all backgrounds to make Stoughton their home. “The types of businesses that we have, the events that we have — (we’re) trying to be supportive of all groups, civic organizations, as well as nonprofits and individuals that are trying to provide opportunities for people to come together and have that sense of community.”
He said the city’s strategy to increase diversity is to “create opportunities for everybody.” He sees that happening primarily through offering “housing opportunities at various price points.”
Jahr has noticed change, too. The city got a Culver’s in 2001 and Walmart opened a store on the west side in the town’s Kettle Park neighborhood in 2017. She said the city has done a good job of “keeping its heritage.”
“It’s just really neat to see the community grow and the city grow over the years from when I grew up,” Jahr said.
Main Street anchors
Another reason Prescott liked Stoughton was because of its downtown area. “Stoughton’s downtown isn’t just bars — there’s a bunch of shops and niche places that other downtowns don’t have,” she said.
Many locals say Stoughton’s downtown area distinguishes it from other nearby small towns, where storefronts are empty or the only occupants are bars. The Stoughton Main Street Commercial Historic District, which runs down East Main Street from Fifth to Forest Street, is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Ingrid McMasters is the owner of Spry Whimsy Fiber Arts, a yarn, spinning and felting store with classes. She’s feeling a shift in the city as Stoughton becomes “more family-oriented,” she said. “We have this energy and livelihood that is because of the new people coming in.”
McMasters is the president of the Stoughton Downtown Merchant Association, an organization that aims to “promote our mutual success as well as expanding the economic growth of the downtown Stoughton community.”
Those businesses are preparing for construction on U.S. 51, the main road in, out and through Stoughton. Construction began on Phase 1 of the project earlier this year at the intersection of U.S. 51 and County N. Most of the downtown businesses are located on U.S. 51, also called Main Street. Many store websites display notices for patrons about construction, and the merchant association tries to cross-promote events among its member organizations.
McMasters opened her shop in 2011, and Spry Whimsy is part of a collection of independently owned stores downtown. Three years ago, she bought the building, which used to be a grocery store, where her shop is housed. McMasters said that’s a trend among shop owners downtown — to buy the buildings so “they can make sure that it’s locally owned and maintained and cared for.”
Spry Whimsy aims to be a welcoming space for all residents. Its website has a mission statement highlighting an aim to be an inclusive business for all. McMasters said in August, Spry Whimsy put together a “drag show fundraiser for GSAFE (an organization that supports LGBTQIA+ kids) with Stoughton Village Players, and we raised $1,200.”
Joanne Grassman, too, wanted to restore an old structure. She bought the Doughboy Building, a 100-year-old warehouse on Main Street, in 2021 and transformed it into Grand Inspired a year later, hosting woodworking and art workshops. She estimates that 30-40 local artists sell their work in the space.
The Doughboy Building had been vacant for seven years before Grassman moved in. When she began restoring the building, Grassman said the “roof leaked horribly,” and there was a “six feet deep pit with old sludge in it.” She had to replace 1,400 roof boards.
“When I bought this building, the city was very helpful with me,” Grassman said. She said the city assisted her in applying for a Community Development Investment Grant from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation “specifically for restoring historic blighted buildings in downtowns that could act as a catalyst for other things to start up.”
Grassman views the increasing number of artisan shops and galleries as seeds of a sustainable arts district. Folks like her and McMasters envision a future where people could visit Stoughton “and spend a week here and get to experience all different kinds of art forms.”
“There are major suburbs or exurbs of Madison,” she said, “but they don’t have that downtown presence where it feels like a downtown area. Stoughton has that.”
Building a future while preserving the past
Sara Liekness, 83, moved to Stoughton in 1965. She remembers when the downtown strip had more everyday businesses, like butchers and grocery stores — now, the closest grocery store is a Pick & Save, about a mile west of the downtown area.
“Saturday nights were a big night, way back,” she said. “The farmers came to town. … We had an IGA (grocery store) downtown, meat markets, drugstores. It was really thriving.”
Nancy Hagen and her husband moved to the area in 1980. “The downtown is, for me, what drew us to this place,” she said. “All the expansion on the west side is every single town USA, chain stores and big parking lots,” she said.
Hagen is the president of the Stoughton Historical Society (Liekness is on the board). The group works to bridge the gap between preservation and adaptation to the community’s evolving needs, including those of younger and new residents.
Hagen said there’s a little “sadness” with new big-box stores opening up, but beams when she talks about how active downtown is — she points to the proximity of the local middle school, River Bluff, to the historic downtown area.
“A thousand kids come out there to go to Fosdal’s (bakery) and coffee shops, and that is a wonderful thing,” she said.
During a board meeting in June, society members met at Luke Stoughton’s house, which had been preserved and restored by the historical society. The group’s goal is to “preserve and educate about Stoughton’s history,” Hagen said.
“We teach people about our history and then welcome them to live here,” said Christine Milligan-Ciha, another board member.
Hagen noted that for every new “subdivision that comes in … they get trails and parks” for residents to use. Stoughton is also mindful of its older population — the mayor has a standing meeting at the senior center every month. The historical society talked up the town’s senior facilities, including Skaalen Retirement Services, which has varied living options for seniors.
“People who grew up here retire here,” Milligan-Ciha said.
Patti Boelsing, a member of the historical society, was born in Stoughton and returned over 40 years later. At one point, Boelsing lived in a converted schoolhouse — the same schoolhouse where Liekness used to teach elementary school.
“That’s a commitment” the city has made, Hagen said, to preserve old buildings but make sure they’re “retrofitted to what was needed.”
With change has come less tolerance for intolerance, said Catherine Haynes. When she moved to Stoughton 30 years ago, she and other openly out lesbian women were subject to discrimination. She recalled a time she and her partner were turned away from a restaurant.
“My memories are feeling dejected for not wanting to be served merely for one aspect of who we are. It hurt and still hurts when I think back to that day. We did not do anything but sit down to order breakfast.”
That’s changed drastically over the last 30 years, she said. “All of our neighbors are so open and welcoming to us now,” she said, but “it took a while” to get there.
Much of the new development and change in Stoughton is a “multi-generational” commitment to its residents, sometimes on an individual scale. During Syttende Mai, Ella Beckler, a high schooler, and Nancy Odalen sat at a table in the Stoughton Public Library, working on rosemaling as visitors passed through.
Odalen has taught Beckler rosemaling since she was 11.
“My grandmother was really into rosemaling,” Beckler said. “It’s fun for me, and I love talking to people and getting younger kids interested in it.”
“I think to see her come out, that’s what makes us thrilled,” Odalen said, “to see the young people excited about this.”
“You hope there’s going to be a balance,” said historical society member Marshall Whitlock. “We’ve got to cooperate in order to build the future (while) respecting the past — and that’s what makes this town work.”
Ashley Rodriguez is a features reporter for the Cap Times. Ashley writes about food and culture in the Madison region. Email story ideas and tips to Ashley at arodriguez@captimes.com.