Livingston, WI

Livingston is a village split between Grant and Iowa counties, where State Highway 80 meets County Highway E about halfway between Platteville and Fennimore. The village began in 1880 on land owned by Hugh Livingston and William Thompson, after Livingston sold a right-of-way for the railroad. A branch line from Madison toward Galena brought the first wave of settlers and businesses, and the post office has operated under the name Livingston since 1880. The village now sits inside the Iowa–Grant school area and the wider Platteville–Fennimore work and school orbit.

The old railroad town still has a few specific markers of that beginning. A high-front building moved from Annaton became an early restaurant, and the first hotel still stands, according to local history. Livingston also drew national attention in 2010 when a meteorite broke apart over the Midwest and fragments fell near the village. Today, Highway 80 carries most movement, with Platteville about thirteen miles away and Fennimore about seventeen. Livingston's 2020 population was 637, and its story comes down to a railroad right-of-way, a county-line location, and a village that grew from a handful of first buildings into a working rural community.