Mayor’s Column April 19, 2025
Rohn Bishop, Mayor of Waupun
Hello Waupun,
Today, (April 19) is my third anniversary of becoming mayor! It’s been an amazing honor to serve as mayor and a lot has happened over these past three years… So much so that sometimes I have a hard time remembering all we’ve accomplished together.
With community and council support, we’ve replaced or improved all but one railroad crossing, and we changed garbage companies. We invested $250,000 in childcare expansion, we brought back the summer parks program with great success, we reopened the city hall auditorium, and we invested historic amounts into youth sports, mainly baseball turf, and both a new ammonia pump and floor refrigeration system at the ice arena.
We rebranded Waupun as “Wisconsin’s Sculpture City” or “Wisconsin’s City of Sculpture,” replacing the “corn people” logo with the End of The Trail as our city’s logo. We put pictures of the sculptures on the wayfinding signs and started displaying our city flag at city buildings. I’m most excited about how this branding has taken off! With the creation of Ice Fest featuring Ice Sculptures, along with the new rotating sculpture collections we’ll have annually, Waupun has taken being the city of sculpture to the next level!
You’re seeing a renewed appreciation of Waupun’s unique history. The Waupun Historical Society has added the state’s only permanent exhibit about the history of corrections, and an awesome exhibit about Mr. Shaler and his legacy! Our city just added “Rosie the Riveter” to our permanent collection, and soon we’ll be adding a new sculpture called, “Catching the Wind” featuring a girl flying a kite. This is a tribute to one of Mr. Shaler’s many patents.
We came together as a city and held a Centennial re-dedication ceremony for the Recording Angel, our city’s oldest sculpture, and we’re investing into saving our city’s oldest buildings. You’re seeing the tuck pointing at the Carnagie Library along with improvements at city hall.
You’re seeing the city committing to historic funding of our downtown historic business district, (next project is the alley reconstruction projects) as well as an explosion of development in our business park and along Shaler Drive, which I’m still pushing hard to get connected soon.
The most amazing addition to Waupun during this time has been the new community center. Adding a multi-generational faciality like that to our community has been extremely popular and has been a great addition to Waupun’s quality of life.
It’s been challenging but super rewarding to accomplish so much with you over the past three years!
Thank you and have a Blessed Easter,
Mayor Rohn
