JANESVILLE, a flourishing town in Janesville township, and capital of Rock county, Wisconsin, is finely situated on both sides of Rock river, 45 miles S. E. from Madison, and 65 miles W. from Racine, with which it is connected by a plank-road. It is built principally on a level space about 200 yards in width, between the river and the bluffs, which rise nearly to the height of 100 feet. The court house occupies a conspicuous position on the summit of the bluff. The town contains 6 churches of brick or stone, 2 banks, an academy, a female seminary, and the state institution for the blind. The Milwaukee and Mississippi railroad here intersects the Fond du Lac and Rock River railroad. The former is completed from Milwaukee to Janesville. Railroads are also in progress to Racine, Beloit, Madison, Kenosha, and Chicago. Rock river affords extensive water-power, which is employed in factories and mills of various kinds. Janesville is the centre of an active and increasing trade. Four newspapers are published here. It was settled about 1886, made the county seat in 1839, and incorporated as a city in 1853. The population (in 1853) is estimated at 5000.