History of Poynette
The naming of the Village of Poynette was a rather unfortunate mistake. As Rowan’s Creek perpetuated the name of the County’s first permanent settler, it was the intention of the pioneers that Pauquette, the widely known fur trader and interpreter at the portage, should be remembered in the christening of this village on Rowan’s Creek; but fate decreed that it should receive a meaningless name.
James Duane Doty, who was to become governor of the territory in 1841, entered 120 acres of land in the Southeast Quarter to be laid out as the Village of Pauquette. In the earlier years the intelligent and faithful trader Pierre Pauquette was a friend of the able and enterprising governor. But the following year after the village was platted Mr. Doty was elected to Congress and his long after career of public serve tended to divert his mind from such minor affairs as the village-to-be on Rowan’s Creek. The plat was therefore vacated.
About the year 1850, application was made by Mr. Doty to the post office department for establishment of a post office at that point, to be called Pauquette. Through a clerical error it was called Poynette. No effort was ever made to correct the name, and when the village was again platted it was called Poynette, after the post office.
One of the residents of Poynette writing about 1880 stated; “there were about a dozen residents in the village of Poynette and four dwelling houses, including the public house kept by Hugh Jamieson who married and occupied one apartment of a double log house, while the other served as a schoolroom. It was Poynette’s first school.” The residents contemplated building a schoolhouse, and in order to draw the public money they had to have a school; so they taxed the residents to raise money to pay a teacher, for whose services they paid six dollars per month.
For a number of years Poynette was quite a flour center, the Lower Mills being erected in 1858 and the Upper Mill in 1860. The Lower Mills had a large local trade and were patronized by the farming community. But the coming of the railroad in 1870 brought better brands of flour to the village than could be supplied by the local plants.
Until that time the growth of the village was quite slow; its population had not reached more than one hundred and fifty and its business was all on the south side of Rowan’s creek.
On the completion of the railroad R.B. Wentworth & Company, of Portage built a small warehouse and for two seasons purchased grain at Poynette. In the summer of 1871, Hug Jamieson built what was then a large elevator, with a storage capacity of 12,000 bushels and commenced the business of buying and shipping. He continued the business for seven years until turning the business over to his son.
The bank of Poynette was established in 1894 as a private institution by the Jamieson brothers. In 1903 under the general law it was incorporated as a state bank.
In 1852, a school district was formed comprising Town of De Korra and Arlington. A one-story frame schoolhouse was built half a mile south of the Village of Poynette which was used until 1867, when it became too small for the needs of the community. A room was rented in the village for the higher departments, the primary alone occupying the schoolroom. In the fall of 1867, a large two-story schoolhouse was erected and occupied by the high school and the grammer grades. William Koepke was the principal of the Union School of Poynette.
The History of Columbia County Wisconsin
Chapter XXI