Whitehall, WI

Whitehall is Trempealeau County's seat, set along the Trempealeau River in a valley that became a rail corridor. The Green Bay and Western line reached the area in 1873, and passenger service followed in 1874; Whitehall's central position on the line helped win the county seat in 1877. The town had earlier roots too: Ole Knudtson opened a hotel and blacksmith shop at Old Whitehall in 1860, before the newer settlement gathered around the railroad. The 1914 Green Bay and Western depot still carries that rail story. Whitehall is a western Wisconsin county seat where a river valley and a railroad decided the map.