Hanover, in the town of Plymouth, at the junction of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway and the Chicago & Northwestern Railway, eight miles southwest of Janesville, was first located by Joseph HOHENSHELDT, in 1844. He was followed the next year by Mathias GUNDEL, and wife, but about that time immigration almost ceased. The village was platted April 16, 1856, by John L. V. THOMAS and wife, proprietors. The Milwaukee & Mississippi Railroad, as the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul road was then called, was finished so that the first freight was received at Hanover, Sept. 1857. In 1856 a post-office was established, with William RANNEY as postmaster. The first birth was that of Montana HOHENSHELDT in 1845. The first marriage was that of Simon HOHENSHELDT and Miss FOX, in 1854. The first store was opened in 1856, by Nathan HIGHME. A gristmill was built in the same year by S. F. CHAPMAN and is now owned by A. BECKMAN. The school house was erected in 1858. The village has one church, of the German Lutheran denomination.   [Source: The Portrait & Biographical Album of Rock County, Wisconsin, ©1889 Acme, Chicago, IL; pp. 1020-1021]

Bass Creek was settled in 1844 in Section 14 of Plymouth Township in Rock County, Wisconsin, but has yet to be found on any maps from the era. In 1859, the village's name was changed to Hanover. Hanover's claim to fame (besides the Ding-A-Ling tavern) is its post office - the smallest surviving post office in the state of Wisconsin (zip code 53542).   [Source: Lori]