Iron Ridge, Wisconsin
Encyclopedia
Iron Ridge is a village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 in Dodge County
Dodge County, Wisconsin
Dodge County is a county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of 2010, the population was 88,759. Its county seat is Juneau.-Geography:According to the U.S...

, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The population was 998 at the 2000 census. The village was founded on a railroad line, named for the iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...

 mined in the area. Its ZIP code
ZIP Code
ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...

 is 53035.

Geography

Iron Ridge is located at 43°23′57"N 88°31′52"W (43.399155, -88.530996).

According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

, the village has a total area of 0.7 square miles (1.8 km²), all of it land.

Demographics

As of the census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

of 2000, there were 998 people, 360 households, and 245 families residing in the village. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 was 1,402.6 people per square mile (542.7/km²). There were 383 housing units at an average density of 538.3 per square mile (208.3/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 99.00% White, 0.40% Native American, 0.30% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

, and 0.30% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.00% of the population.

Just over 70% of the population report that their ancestors were from Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.

There were 360 households out of which 42.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.8% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

 living together, 6.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.7% were non-families. 26.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.77 and the average family size was 3.45.

In the village the population was spread out with 34.0% under the age of 18, 8.5% from 18 to 24, 33.5% from 25 to 44, 15.6% from 45 to 64, and 8.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females there were 100.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.3 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $42,083, and the median income for a family was $50,893. Males had a median income of $36,359 versus $23,906 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...

 for the village was $16,214. About 1.7% of families and 3.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.7% of those under age 18 and 2.6% of those age 65 or over.

Zum Kripplein Christi Evangelical Lutheran Church

This is a long-established Lutheran congregation, started by German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

 immigrants in 1848. Zum Kripplein Christi is a member-congregation of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod is a North American Confessional Lutheran denomination of Christianity. Characterized as theologically conservative, it was founded in 1850 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As of 2008, it had a baptized membership of over 389,364 in more than 1,290 congregations,...

.

This little congregation still uses its German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 name which means "At the Little Crib of Christ." While some speculation is given to how the congregation received its name, there is thought to be a connection with a congregation in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 of the same name. That original congregation was the result of persecution by Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

n ruler John Sigismund
John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg
John Sigismund was a Prince-elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg from the House of Hohenzollern. He also served as a Duke of Prussia.-Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia:...

, when devout Lutherans refused fellowship with the Reformed Church. The church building was seized, and members to forced to worship in a log cabin. Being a rather rough-looking sanctuary for worship, the pastor inspired his members by pointing out that even Jesus Christ was born in a stable. The church's school Zum Krippen Christi Lutheran Elementary School was closed in July 2006 due to declining attendance.

The cemetery of the same name is located in nearby Herman
Herman, Dodge County, Wisconsin
Herman is a town in Dodge County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,207 at the 2000 census. The unincorporated community of Huilsburg is located in the town.-Geography:...

.

Butler Ridge Wind Farm

Iron Ridge is the community in Dodge County closest to the Butler Ridge Wind Farm, a wind farm
Wind farm
A wind farm is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electric power. A large wind farm may consist of several hundred individual wind turbines, and cover an extended area of hundreds of square miles, but the land between the turbines may be used for agricultural or other...

 that contains 36 turbines
Wind turbine
A wind turbine is a device that converts kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical energy. If the mechanical energy is used to produce electricity, the device may be called a wind generator or wind charger. If the mechanical energy is used to drive machinery, such as for grinding grain or...

 that are 300 feet wide and 260 feet tall. It sits along the Niagara Escarpment
Niagara Escarpment
The Niagara Escarpment is a long escarpment, or cuesta, in the United States and Canada that runs westward from New York State, through Ontario, Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois...

, a ridge that originates in Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, runs through Wisconsin, and ends in Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

.

External links

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