Bergen or
Jefferson Prairie?

Jᴇꜰꜰᴇʀsᴏɴ Pʀᴀɪʀɪᴇ ᴏʀ Bᴇʀɢᴇɴ﹖

What has your family called the unincorporated community located south of Clinton at the stateline?

Originally the area that became Clinton Township was called Jefferson Prairie. Generally it ran from Turtle Creek to the north, Allens Grove to the east, into what is now Turtle township to the west and into the northern part of Illinois.

In 1838, Ole Natesta reached Wisconsin and established the Norwegian pioneer colony at Jefferson Prairie. Rock County was organized on Feb. 13, 1839 and the township was officially named Clinton.  The Jefferson Prairie Lutheran Church was organized in 1844.

It is not clear when the community first was called Bergen. Certainly the name became official when a post office was established on July 20, 1895 with Charles K. Johnson as Postmaster. On March 28, 1898, Henry S. Anderson became the Postmaster. The Bergen Post Office was short lived however as with the beginning of rural mail delivery (R.F.D.) the post office was closed December 14, 1903 and mail was handled through the Clinton Post Office.

The community of Bergen continued to flourish.  There was a general store, feed mill, apple (cider) press and a blacksmith shop. In 1896 a group of farmers established the Nora butter plant with T. T. Nelson as President and Henry Natesta as Secretary. It was located at the southwest of Bergen Corners (Stateline Rd & Bergen Rd). Henry Williams was the “buttermaker” from 1896 until 1903. Sometime in the early 1920’s it was closed and stood idle for a couple of years. Then Henry S. Anderson contacted Jacob Marty and he converted it into a cheese factory. The first cheesemaker was Mr. Fraumfelder. When he left after a couple of years the plant was again idle. In 1926 it reopened with Adolph Meier making the cheese. But in 1928 Jacob Marty went broke and Adolph Meier acquired the cheese factory. He then loaded up the equipment onto a railroad car in Clinton and shipped it to Indiana where he started a new cheese company.

Bᴇʀɢᴇɴ Tᴇʟᴇᴘʜᴏɴᴇ Cᴏ.

In the early 1900s (incorporated 1908) the Henry S. Anderson family, together with about a hundred families in the area formed the Bergen Telephone Co. Cooperative. Henry ran the business and later, as his daughter grew up, she also was what we call “Central” or the person to operate the switchboard. She married Joe Duxstad and he became "helper" to H.S. with the lines and repair service. Henry “Bergen” could still climb the poles and repair the lines until after his 90th birthday.

Some very unique things about the telephone company that we don't see today were that for a dollar and a half a month you received your telephone service, and Henry used to come to your house probably once or twice a year, whether the phone needed repair or not, stop for a cup of coffee or a glass of lemonade and catch up on news of folks in his settlement, as he always called it. Also, at no extra cost, Millie, as we liked to call her, performed a number of duties that everybody got used to and enjoyed. When you would need a doctor or veterinarian or service person, and if you were real busy, you called Millie and told her what you needed, she would do so and get him on his way real fast. At no extra cost you could get the latest community information such as births or deaths or happenings in the community by just calling Millie. If you went away from home to do your shopping or to visit neighbors or relatives, and your cows got out or something serious was happening at your place, she always seemed to know where you were so she could call you and get you home for the emergency. She always tried to keep track of what was going on in the neighborhood.

In 1960 the company was sold to the Sharon Telephone Company however it continues to operate as the Bergen Telephone Company (PSC ID #470).