Editing Sauk City, Wisconsin (section)

==History==
{{stack|[[Image:Sauk City historical marker.jpg|thumb|upright|Historical marker]]}}
Impressed by the beautiful scenery, [[Agoston Haraszthy]], a charismatic Hungarian sometimes called "Count" Haraszthy, purchased a small plot of land along the [[Wisconsin River]] in 1840. Later, with his English-born business partner, Robert Bryant, Haraszthy bought additional land and founded the town of Haraszthy (originally called Széptáj, Hungarian for "beautiful place").<ref>{{cite book |first=Harry Ellsworth |last=Cole |url=http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.ColeStandardv1 |title=A Standard History of Sauk County, Wisconsin: Volume I |publisher=Lewis Publishing Co. |year=1918}}</ref>

In 1849, the name of the town was changed to Westfield. Three years later, in 1852, it was changed again, this time to the current name of Sauk City. The community was incorporated as a village in 1854, making Sauk City the oldest incorporated village in the state.<ref>{{cite web |author=State of Wisconsin Legislature |url=https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2003/related/proposals/sjr51.pdf |year=2003 |title=Senate Joint Resolution 51}}</ref>

In 1852, German immigrants founded the Sauk City Free Congregation (''[[Free Congregations|Freie Gemeinde]]''). This group, a liberal religious society, celebrated [[German music]], literature, and culture. It met in a private home until 1884, when Park Hall was built as a meeting house. The [[Freethinkers' Hall|building]] is now home to the [[Sauk County Free Congregation]], a [[Unitarian Universalist]] fellowship.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

In the ''[[Harper's Weekly]]'' magazine of November 21, 1914, Sauk City was named "America's Foremost City". The article cited a pageant, attended by 4000 people, which enacted scenes from the village's history, and concluded with the naming of the school principal as the Civic Secretary, charged with making the school the center of the life of the town. To that end, the ballot box was transferred from the town hall to the school house.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

In 2017, the [[Great Sauk State Trail]] opened on the former railroad line running through the city.