Platteville, Wisconsin

Platteville is a city located in Grant County, Wisconsin, which is in the southwest corner of the state. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 9,989.

History

Platteville was a small farming and fur trading community along the Platte River, from which the town got its name. In the 1800s, lead was discovered in the area and a mining boom took the area by storm. During this boom, both a teacher's college and a separate mining college were founded. These two colleges later merged and became University of Wisconsin-Platteville.

Related Topics:
1800s - University of Wisconsin-Platteville

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After the lead mines went dry, the two colleges and the surrounding farming community kept Platteville from becoming a ghost town. Today, Platteville is mainly a college town and slowly developing into a white-collar city. The white-collar growth is due the growing number of engineering firms that are locating to Platteville to take advantage of UW-P's strong engineering program.

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In the 1960s, a large department store located itself along U.S. Highway 151 just outside of the city limits and is attributed with the start of the downfall of the downtown retail sector. In the late 1970s, K-Mart then moved just outside city limits along US 151. K-Mart drove the previous large department store out of business. Then in the 1980s, Wal-Mart moved in right next to K-Mart. Local residents expected Wal-Mart to drive K-Mart out of business as K-Mart did the previous large department store. However, because Wal-Mart located right next to K-Mart, the two stores have actually benefited from each other and become a shopping mecca for the surrounding area. They pulling in shoppers from further away than K-Mart did before Wal-Mart joined it. Building on this development, in late 1980's, the Aldi grocery store chain opened up a unit store across the highway from the two mega-stores. In the 1990s, a multi-plex movie theater also joined the shopping mecca.

Related Topics:
1960s - U.S. Highway 151 - 1970s - K-Mart - 1980s - Wal-Mart - Aldi - 1990s

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The retail stores of downtown Platteville have thus been steadily fading away. In the 1980s, professional offices (law firms, insurance agents, etc.) started moving into the vacant retail stores. Numerous things have been tried to revive the downtown area. Main Street that runs through it has had radical changes made to it over the years. It went from a two-way street to a two-lane one-way street to a single-lane one-way curving street to once again a two-lane one-way street to its present two-way street. None of these street changes have helped. The one that most hurt the downtown area was the one-way curving street set-up as it resulted in the loss of half of the parking spaces down the street. Currently, painted murals is the latest attempt to try to revitalize the downtown area and is being spearheaded by the Platteville Main Street Program.

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In the 1980s, the Chicago Bears football team held spring training camp on the campus of University of Wisconsin-Platteville. This resulted in an infusion of tens of millions of dollars into the local economy each summer. The money stopped flowing after the Bears decided to hold training camp in Illinois.

Related Topics:
Chicago Bears - Football - University of Wisconsin-Platteville

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In 2004, the University of Wisconsin System approved University of Wisconsin-Platteville to expand its student enrollment from 5,000 to 7,500. This expansion is expected to be a huge boon to Platteville. It might even result in further evolution of the downtown district that begins only three blocks away from UW-P's campus. Some speculate that it might change Main Street into a Platteville version of State Street in Madison, Wisconsin. Madison's State Street is a social mecca for that city's student population with espresso cafes, restaurants, and specialty shops lining it and thus has kept the downtown in Madison alive and thriving. However, State Street's social mecca starts where it dead-ends into the UW-M campus whereas what would possibly be the social mecca area on Main Street in Platteville is three blocks away from UW-P's campus. Residential homes, a very large apartment complex, and Greek society fraternity and sorority houses line the three blocks between the UW-P campus and the downtown district. Going in the downtown's favor is the taverns in Platteville being restricted to Second Street that thus forces UW-P students to walk down Main Street to get to them. Time will tell if the coming surge in students will result in Main Street's next evolution.

Related Topics:
2004 - University of Wisconsin System - Madison, Wisconsin

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Also in 2004, U.S. Highway 151 was upgraded to a limited-access superhighway and its new lanes now run further south of Platteville. Before the upgrade, US 151 cut closer to Platteville and, along the stretch that hugged Platteville, fast food restaurants sprang up and both Wal-Mart and K-Mart opened. However, Platteville has already made changes to incorporate in the new southern US 151 bypassing it. A brand-new hospital was built just north of US 151 and next to its off-ramps. Another expected change will be the moving of the fast food restaurants on the current food strip to the new off-ramps. Some speculate that the professional offices currently on Main Street will then move into the vacanted fast food restaurant buildings and thus accelerating the transformation of Main Street as outlined in the previous paragraph.

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