Main Street

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

This was once the center of community life for the Village of Clinton. The Hotel Clinton once stood on this block and travelers would have been common due to the train depot being so close.

Images

Main Street as it once was.

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

Clinton has always been integrally linked with the railroads almost to its detriment. In 1857, the U.S. Postal Department Office decided to unilaterally change the name of the post office in Clinton Junction (now the Village of Clinton) to "Ogden" in order to honor William Odgen, then President of the Chicago and Fond du Lac Railroad line that passed through the area. The people in the area refused to change their name however. Adding to the confusion was the decision by the Postal Department to create a post office in Sheboygan County called Clinton in 1860, which jumbled the mail and caused consternation among residents in two counties. In 1864, the Postal Department finally relented to boisterous public pressure to reverse course and Clinton Junction was restored, with the Sheboygan County Post Office being dubbed Bamberg instead.