Did you know that the capital of Wisconsin would have been a little closer to Illinois if history had gone slightly different?

The town of Belmont, Wisconsin is, I think officially, a sleepy hamlet. Tucked in the southwest corner of the state, above Galena, maybe 30 miles north of the border, Belmont is officially home to 986 residents as of the 2010 census.

Google / Spanky Crank Da Ya Ky
Google / Spanky Crank Da Ya Ky
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Wisconsin spent 12 years as a territory of the United States before it became a state in 1836. During that time the town of Belmont was designated as the capital of the territory. Belmont was located next to a large mine, so it made sense to make it the central location for the territory.

They built a "Capital House" where meetings were intended to be held.

Google / Jesse James White
Google / Jesse James White
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Everything has been preserved from this former political building and looks a little spooky if you linger a bit too long.

Google / Spanky Crank Da Ya Ky
Google / Spanky Crank Da Ya Ky
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Belmont only served as the territory's capital for 46 days. The buildings were never used for their intended purpose.

Google / Jesse James White
Google / Jesse James White
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Politics would eventually rear its ugly head when a lawmaker named James Doty lobbied hard to get the Capital moved to its current location, Madison. It just so happened that Mr. Doty happened to also own a fair amount of land in the Madison area.

The political center, people, and most importantly money were all moved to Madison by 1836 and that's why Madison looks like this right now:

Google / Elliot Harper
Google / Elliot Harper
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And Belmont is a city of 1 stop sign and looks like this.

Google / First Capital Historic Site
Google / First Capital Historic Site
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There's an Underground Superhero Lair in this Illinois Home for Sale

Looking for a home with a superhero lair? You can stop your search now.

LOOK: Here are the 50 best beach towns in America

Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.

 

 

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