Historical Society marks sites of Dodge County ‘Ghost Towns’

As you drive around Dodge County you may have noticed the signs along the roadway marking places with names you have never heard of such as Claremont Street, Hobson, Valasity?
Dodge County is home to more than two dozen of these locations. They are places that were once towns with post offices but, for whatever reason, they withered and died and many have nothing left to indicate they once existed.
The Dodge County Historical Society has decided that these locations should be remembered and has recently completed marking each location with a sign, giving the place name and the year established.
One of these towns was Claremont Street, located at the intersection of 595th St. and 124th Avenue. Although now the location is marked by a residence, when the town was founded in 1854 and for a time after that, it was a thriving little village.
Located a few miles from what is now called Claremont, East Claremont may be considered the original Claremont, according to Dale Morris, Historical Society member and local historian. In May 1854 the first claims were made in Claremont as Alonso G. Way selected a claim and marked his name and the date on a tree in the woods. Later in the summer O.B. Kidder and his son George B. Kidder and several others came and began cutting and putting up hay for the livestock they planned to bring in the fall. Other settlers began arriving that fall and Kidder opened his home for accommodation of travelers in the fall of 1854.
Many of the newcomers came from New Hampshire and the name Claremont comes from the city of that name in New Hampshire.
Claremont Street was named, Morris said, for the fact the main road is laid out on the quarter lines for 11 miles east and west through the center of the township. At its peak, Claremont was home to a general store, two hotels and stagecoach stop, blacksmith shop and cheese factory, Morris said.
The village’s fortunes changed, however, when the railroad chose to build its tracks south of Claremont Street. The people and businesses followed the railroad to the current location of Claremont.
The story was the same in other small villages in the county. Some of the names are remembered in some cases because the names are the same as the township and some because a cluster of houses still exists in the location. Others have been completely forgotten as all traces of the villages have vanished and the land returned to farmland.
The historical society has located 28 of these former villages and has marked each one with a sign along the roadway.
Designated ghost towns in Dodge County currently include Valasity, Ashland, Ripley, Venture, Westfield, Hayfield Junction, Thoe, Oslo, Vernon, Canisteo, Union Springs, Wasioja, Eden/Cheney, Sacramento, Danesville, Milton/Watkins, Steam Mill Hill, Hector/Pumpkin Hollow, Berne/Buchanan, Concord/Sumner’s Grove, Eagle Valley, Ellington/Pleasant Grove, Rice Lake, Hobson, Claremont Street, East Claremont Street, Avon and Hollowell.