Cancel

    Open app

    Search

    Sauk County Courthouse

    4.0 (1 review)

    Sauk County Courthouse Photos

    Recommended Reviews - Sauk County Courthouse

    Your trust is our priority, so businesses can't pay to alter or remove their reviews. Learn more about reviews.
    Yelp app icon
    Browse more easily on the app
    Review Feed Illustration
    Photo of Matt W.
    254
    481
    4116

    7 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    Verify this business for free

    Get access to customer & competitor insights.

    Verify this business

    Winnebago County Courthouse

    Winnebago County Courthouse

    2.0(2 reviews)
    71.0 mi

    The nicest people here the security officers checking bags. Expect to not start on time (we waited…read more45 minutes), a rude bailiff, and a condescending judge that treats you like an inconvenience and not a human-- a typical bureaucratic nightmare that wastes everyone's time, money, and resources.

    Like most courthouses, this is a pretty old, pretty neat building. Parking is in the back, so you…read moreenter in the back, which is super confusing -- when there are stairs going down right in front of you, it seems like that's where to go. Which is why the boyfriend and I ended up in the basement barging into some supply room while in search of the county clerk... However, security is pretty much nonexistent, so we managed not to get into any trouble! Properly redirected upstairs, the county clerk is just inside the (front) door. They have a separate little room where they do marriage licenses, so you don't have to stand at the counter. However, they had some difficulty with some of our documents, and given that we had to swear that everything was accurate, it seemed weird that they were trying to enter things that were not, strictly speaking, accurate. Look, guys, not everyone was born in Wisconsin and only has paperwork from Wisconsin! On the plus side, when we picked up the license, they invited our photographers behind the counter to get photos of us checking it over. Scheduling a wedding was super easy, as they have a listing online of which judge to call for which month. The lady in the judge's office was very nice, and even volunteered that the judge's clerks can serve as the witnesses (which we took them up on). We were married in the judge's courtroom, and while the judge had clearly done the ceremony a few (hundred) times before, it was very nice, and using just our first names ensured that there was no mangling of our last names! One of the clerks even accompanied us downstairs to the register of deeds office to file our license, so the paperwork was relatively painless. And everyone told me how beautiful I looked and seemed very happy to have a wedding (clerk taking us downstairs: "We have a wedding!"). So while bureaucracy is bureaucracy, this really wasn't too bad. And hey, getting married by a judge is free (if you don't count all the taxes you've ever paid...)!

    Wisconsin Historical Society - Reading Room

    Wisconsin Historical Society

    4.6(7 reviews)
    32.3 miCapitol

    super gorgeous and nice place to study. Definetly not the most quiet though, not always but…read moresometimes the librarians can be very loud which makes it hard to study if you don't want to use headphones.

    The WHS is a beautiful and easy-to-navigate library where you can find old Wisconsin newspapers on…read moremicrofilm that aren't available on the web. The staff is friendly, the materials are very accessible and the equipment is easy to use. The building itself is gorgeous, with vaulted, stained glass ceilings and long, old fashioned wooden desks each with small green lamps. Here's how our visit played out... Growing up as a kid, it was always fun to hear my parents' stories from their childhood in La Crosse, WI. My dad has a couple that he really enjoys recounting: one story is about an epic high school football matchup between his school and my mom's (my dad's team won, which may explain his fondness for the story), and a second story is about a lone gunman who robbed a hotel where my dad worked, my dad subsequently chased into a parking lot, and he got shot at in the chase. You can tell that both of these items of family folklore may be tweeked with a bit of exagerration. My siblings and I always wondered, are my dad's memories completely accurate, or are they big fish stories? Yesterday I convinced my parents to join me on a trip to the Historical Society, where they have a vast collection of past Wisconsin newspapers on microfilm. Tucked away in a back room, you can look up La Crosse Tribune newspapers from the 1960s, organized by month in an old school card catalog or on a new school online database. The library has tons of microfilm machines that are available for open use. You retrieve the microfilm yourself from a shelving system, and you're free to start scanning it on a manual-roller or automatic-digital machine. We quickly found newspaper evidence confirming both of my dad's stories, and his reputation for veracity remains intact. He was very pleased with our findings (I think he may have started doubting his own memory). He also got swept up by all the big headlines on the newspapers' coverpages (Vietnam, Nixon, controversies over interstate construction). The library staff was very friendly and willing to help us along during our search process. The entire visit only took us about an hour, and that's pretty quick, demonstrating how organized they've got things. We tracked down exactly what we needed in a short time amidst an enormous volume of materials and with only a vagueidea of when it all had happened. We were able to make digital, emailed copies of the newspapers for free, and we made some paper printouts of the important pages for 25 cents/page. The Wisconsin Historical Society Library is an excellent resource for the state and a great place to check on family folklore. And here's an idea: You could make a scrapbook gift for a parent, comprised of newspaper clippings that confirm their favorite stories or show big events from their childhood.

    Photos
    Wisconsin Historical Society - Staircase

    Staircase

    Wisconsin Historical Society - John Muir, University of Wisconsin alumnus

    John Muir, University of Wisconsin alumnus

    Wisconsin Historical Society - Top statue and decorative on The Historic Grain Exchange check it out on the Historic register.

    See all

    Top statue and decorative on The Historic Grain Exchange check it out on the Historic register.

    Sauk County Courthouse - courthouses - Updated June 2026

    Loading...
    Loading...
    Loading...