JANESVILLE

city, seat (1839) of Rock county, southern Wisconsin, U.S., on the Rock River, 37 miles (60 km) southeast of Madison. Settled in 1835 and named for a pioneer, Henry F. Janes (who later moved west to found Janesville, Minn., and Janesville, Iowa), it developed as a trading centre for a dairying, grain, and logging region. In 1919 General Motors Corporation opened a tractor factory, which became a Fisher Body and Chevrolet plant (1922); it, with the Parker Pen Company, now leads the city's diversified industries. Janesville was the birthplace (1862) of Carrie Jacobs Bond, composer of sentimental songs, and a monument marks the site where she wrote I Love You Truly. The Tallman Restorations include two 19th-century houses. The nearby Milton House Museum, a Civil War landmark, was a station on the Underground Railroad for runaway slaves. A University of Wisconsin centre was established in 1966 in Janesville, and the Blackhawk Technical College was founded in 1912. Inc. 1853. Pop. (1990) city, 52,210; Janesville-Beloit MSA, 139,510; (1994 est.) city, 56,862; (1995 est.) Janesville-Beloit MSA, 148,349.