Byron Kilbourn

Life & Legacy

Byron Kilbourn (September 8, 1801 – December 16, 1870) was an American surveyor, railroad executive, politician, and Wisconsin pioneer. He was one of the founders of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, having established one of the three original settlements later incorporated into the city of Milwaukee; his settlement was known as "Kilbourntown" and was located on the west side of the Milwaukee River. He was also instrumental in the founding of the settlement that became the city of West Bend, Wisconsin.
He later served as the 3rd and 8th mayor of Milwaukee (1848, 1854), and represented Milwaukee County at Wisconsin's second constitutional convention, which drafted the Constitution of Wisconsin in the winter of 1847–1848.
During these years, he was also a significant investor and promoter of railroads, and was president of the Milwaukee & Mississippi Railroad until he was fired by the board amid allegations of fraud and mismanagement. He then chartered the La Crosse & Milwaukee Railroad to compete with his former business in building a railroad line to connect Milwaukee to the Mississippi River. In his work on the La Crosse & Milwaukee railroad, he was largely responsible for the consequential decision to locate a railroad bridge over the Wisconsin River at what is now Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin—the village there was originally named "Kilbourn City".
Kilbourn was ruined by scandal when it was revealed in 1857 that he orchestrated one of the worst corruption scandals in Wisconsin history to acquire land grants for railroad routes; in subsequent investigations, dozens of Wisconsin legislators and other state officials were found to have taken bribes, with allegations tainting nearly every member of the 9th Wisconsin Legislature.
Byron Kilbourn's father, James Kilbourne, was the founder of Worthington, Ohio, and served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.