History:

The beautiful and historic City of Beloit is located along Interstate 39/90, just north of the Wisconsin border.  The City Center is located along the beautiful Rock River, while the new Gateway Business Park is easily accessible on the east side of the Interstate.  The City is conveniently located with the City of Chicago to the southeast along Interstate 90, while Madison, Wisconsin is less than an hour's drive to the north.  The City is directly connected to Milwaukee via Interstate Highway 43, which merges with Interstate 39/90 in Beloit, forming a strategic transportation network in the nation's heartland.

At the beginning of the 1800's, several hundred Native Americans of the Winnebago tribe lived in a village called Ke-chunk-nee-shun-nuk-ra, or the Turtle, where the Rock River and Turtle Creek join. The first known white man to settle in Rock County alongside the Winnebago was Joseph Thiebault, a French trapper who came to the area in the 1820s to trade with the tribe. Thiebault's cabin was located just north of the state line, near the site where Beloit City Hall now stands.

Caleb Blodgett, another of the earliest pioneers and merchants, dubbed this place New Albany but, a citizen committee soon renamed it. Although the exact history remains disputed, it seems that the name Beloit was coined from a French word, Balotte, to mean "handsome ground"; the spelling was then fashioned after Detroit, which the community saw as a great symbol of trade and growth.