Hotels in Stoughton, Wisconsin

A little about Stoughton...

Stoughton is a city in Dane County, Wisconsin. It straddles the Yahara River about 20 miles southeast of the capital, Madison. As of 2004, it had a population of 12,692.

Stoughton is known for its Norwegian heritage: It hosts a citywide celebration of Syttende Mai, the Norwegian constitution day, on the weekend closest to May 17, and its sister city is Gjøvik, Norway. Part of the city's celebration of its Norwegian heritage is the Stoughton Norwegian Dancers dance group.

In 2004 a Norwegian TV crew travelled to the Midwest to witness the modern manifestations of Norsky culture in the state. The team was affiliated with the Sogn og Fjordane branch of NRK, Norway’s public television network, but worked as free-lancers on this project. During their stay the team visited Stoughton, as well as Mount Horeb and Decorah, Iowa. In Stoughton the Norwegians focused on Jessica Lippart, then a bunad-clad member of the Stoughton Norwegian Dancers, as she danced and commented on the Norwegian-American cultural aspects of the area. The documentary Ja, de elsker (Litt.: Yes, they love and a reference to the Norwegian national anthem) was aired on NRK1 on May 16, and May 17 2006, just in time for that year's Norwegian Constitution Day. The program was also shown on December 30 2006.

Stoughton was founded in 1847 by Luke Stoughton, an Englishman from Vermont. Many Norwegian immigrants settled in the town from 1865 through the early 1900s. The coffee break is said to have originated in Stoughton, when the immigrant men became employed en masse at T.G. Mandt's wagon factory, leaving their wives to fill the shortages at the tobacco warehouses, who agreed to work under the condition that they were allowed to go home every morning and afternoon to tend to chores and, of course, drink coffee. The city of Stoughton celebrates the coffee break every summer with the Stoughton Coffee Break Festival.