Emergency Crime Scene and Biohazard Cleanup in Columbus, WI

Columbus is a city in Columbia County, Wisconsin — with a small portion extending into Dodge County — located about 28 miles northeast of Madison on the Crawfish River, with 5,540 residents at the 2020 census.

Elbert Dickason, one of the first settlers in 1839, built a log cabin on the banks of the Crawfish River and is credited with naming the settlement after Christopher Columbus.

Dickason had bought his land from the government land office for $1.25 an acre, only to return from the Black Hawk War era to find fellow settler Lewis Ludington claiming the same spot.

Columbus briefly served as the county seat of Columbia County from 1847 until 1851, when the seat moved to Portage.

The railroad reached Columbus in 1857, turning it into a grain and dairy shipping hub; the settlement incorporated as a village in 1864 and as a city on February 26, 1874.

Before European settlement, the Columbus area was the territory of the Ho-Chunk Nation, for whom the Crawfish River was an important trade route.

Columbus is nicknamed 'Redbud City' for its abundant redbud trees, and each May the community holds a Redbud Festival and crowns a prince and princess as the trees bloom.

The Farmers and Merchants Union Bank in downtown Columbus, designed by famed architect Louis Sullivan in 1919–1920, is a nationally recognized 'jewel box' bank and Prairie School landmark.

Downtown Columbus was used to film scenes for the 2009 Johnny Depp movie Public Enemies, with the Sullivan bank building featured in the film.

Columbus is home to the Columbus Antique Mall, described as the largest antique mall in Wisconsin, with about 75,000 square feet of goods from more than 220 dealers in a former canning company building.