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Janesville owes its existence to its location at a waterpower site in the midst of one of the richest agricultural regions in North America. The nine-foot fall of the Rock River through the city gave Janesville's founders the power to run the mills that established an industrial and commercial base for the community.

Just as important as the water in the Rock River was the wealth of the farmland on its banks. On the northern edge of the great Midwestern tall grass prairie, Rock County has been one of Wisconsin's leading agricultural producers since settlement. One pioneer described the Rock Prairie without “the mark of the plow” in 1836 as “the paradise of the West.” So attractive was its soil that between 1840 and 1850, county population grew from about 1,700 to nearly 21,000. It was not exactly the California gold rush, but similar in that newcomers flocked to the county to exploit the natural wealth of its soil.

A good share of the prairie's original wealth was transferred to Janesville in return for the services its people supplied to the farmers. First, they milled, bought, sold and shipped prairie wheat. They imported and sold manufactured goods to the farmers and provided credit, legal, educational, entertainment, cultural and information services. Janesville the industrial city was also Janesville the farm service city and the first service delivered was at the grain mills on the Rock. It is no accident that the first Wisconsin state fair was held in Janesville in 1851. It was the ideal place to exhibit the agricultural prowess and promise of the state, much of which came from Rock County.

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