Two Scotsmen, James Young and Thomas Stewart were the first to establish residence in the township in the late 1830s. With the building of a grist mill on Badger Creek in 1843, George Vroman and William Wheeler established a small settlement around it in the valley just south of today’s present village. The mill was sold to Samuel Taylor and this small community was briefly known as Taylorville.
To the north of the mill site, Joseph Flick and H. B. Matts both acquired homestead land grants of large acreage in 1845. These properties included the major intersection of the east/west road (Mineral Point to Milwaukee) and the well-traveled north/south road (Green Bay to Galena). Both gentlemen sold lots along these routes which developed into Verona’s new residential and business district. Matts also sold land for the cemetery, the anticipated railroad and deeded land for a Baptist church. Two substantial brick homes were built at the corners by Matts and and his brother-in-law, John Meyers, their wives [Lydia (Flick) Matts] [Deborah (Flick) Meyers] being Flick sisters. The very early travelers’ inn, The Eagles Nest, occupied one of the other corners.
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