Portage City

Portage City Hall is located at 115 West Pleasant Street, Portage, WI 53901; phone: 608-742-2176.

Portage lies along a 1/2 mile area of floodplain between the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers. It began on a hill as a business district of several stores and dwellings in the late 1840s. The business district was platted in 1852. After 15 years of controversy regarding where to locate the Columbia County Seat, Winnebago Settlement (Portage) won. Portage City was incorporated in 1854. It grew rapidly as a supply center for logging operations along the Wisconsin River. [Wisconsin Historical Society, www.wisconsinhistory.org, accessed July, 2011]