Editing Elroy, Wisconsin (section)

==History==
Elroy was named in 1858, supposedly after a place in Scotland.<ref>{{cite book|author=Chicago and North Western Railway Company|title=A History of the Origin of the Place Names Connected with the Chicago & North Western and Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railways|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OspBAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA69|year=1908|page=69}}</ref>

By another account, the original residents chose "LeRoy" as the name for the community and its post office, but were informed that another community in the state had that name already.  Switching the first two letters was suggested and adopted.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.elroywi.com/index.asp?SEC=1F85BBBF-974B-4BEE-B8FC-00A53E9B5281&DE=07E6FE4A-2DF2-49E0-8BB0-38AA119D8E7C&Type=B_BASIC |title=History of the Community}}</ref>

A post office called Elroy has been in operation since 1862.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?task=display&state=WI&county=Juneau |title=Juneau County |publisher=Jim Forte Postal History |access-date=17 March 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402135414/http://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?task=display&state=WI&county=Juneau |archive-date=2 April 2015 }}</ref>

[[File:Western Wisconsin Bike Trail Map.png|thumb|230px|left|Map of the [[Elroy-Sparta State Trail]] and connecting trails]]
Elroy was for many years an important railroad hub in the area. The [[Baraboo Air Line Railroad]] reached Elroy in the 1870s. The Air Line was later acquired by the [[Chicago and North Western Railway]] and the line was pushed on to [[Sparta, Wisconsin]]. It eventually became the main line of the CNW between [[Chicago, Illinois]] and [[Winona, Minnesota]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Grant |first=H. Roger |year=1996 |title = The North Western – A history of the Chicago & North Western Railway system |publisher=Northern Illinois University Press |location = DeKalb, Illinois |isbn = 0-87580-214-1 }}</ref> The [[Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway]] also became a presence in Elroy when its line was built from St. Paul, Minnesota, south through [[Camp Douglas, Wisconsin]]. Both railroad companies kept roundhouses and other operations in Elroy.  Rail traffic on the Elroy portion of the CNW eventually declined, due to the construction of better mainline trackage further to the north (via [[Adams, Wisconsin|Adams]], [[Necedah, Wisconsin|Necedah]], and [[Wyeville, Wisconsin|Wyeville]]). The rails on this portion were taken up in the mid-1960s and the right-of-way was converted into the Elroy-Sparta Bike Trail, as it remains today. The CNW tracks from Elroy southeast to [[Reedsburg, Wisconsin]], along with those of the north-south Omaha line, were taken up in the 1990s, and these rights-of-way are now known as the [[400 State Trail|"400" State Trail]], and the Omaha Trail, respectively.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.elroywi.com/history.htm |title=History of Elroy, Wisconsin |access-date=2010-01-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091110035946/http://www.elroywi.com/history.htm |archive-date=2009-11-10 |url-status=dead }}</ref>