Soldiers Grove, WI

Soldiers Grove is a Crawford County village along the Kickapoo River, where the water once ran beside the business district and repeatedly put Main Street under water. In the early years, Brightman operated a sawmill that handled logs rafted down the river, and the Kickapoo powered flour and lumber mills. The same river that supported the village also brought a long series of floods, leaving homes and storefronts vulnerable on the low ground.

After a 1974 floodplain ordinance limited rebuilding, local leaders began planning a move uphill. The record flood of July 1978 destroyed buildings and finally brought federal support for relocation. The downtown move started in 1979 and was completed in 1983, with businesses rebuilt along US 61 on higher ground. Soldiers Grove made the new center energy-efficient and solar-heated, creating what the village calls the nation's first solar village. The old downtown became a riverside park, and the 2007 flood showed why the move mattered: the river tore through the park, but the business district stayed above the water. Soldiers Grove's 2020 population was 552, and its streets carry the story of a village that changed its entire center to live with the Kickapoo.