Under the oaks and over the falls: two Jackson landmarks

On July 6, 1854, anti-slavery delegates met near Second and Franklin streets in Jackson. They adopted a platform and nominated a statewide slate under the Republican name. The grove is gone, but a small public park and markers preserve the spot as Under the Oaks.

The careful version is that the party did not spring from one meeting. A local group met in Ripon, Wisconsin, in March 1854, and other anti-slavery gatherings were happening around the country. Jackson’s convention came in July and did something larger: it organized a statewide ticket. That is why both places appear in the party’s origin story, and why Jackson’s site matters without forcing the history into one tidy birthplace claim.

Jackson’s other landmark is pure showmanship. The Cascades is a 500-foot man-made waterfall with 16 falls, 11 of them illuminated. Pumps carry the water back uphill so it can run down again with lights and music. Local industrialist William Sparks, inspired by a fountain he saw in Barcelona, opened it in 1932. The display calendar and admission rates change from season to season; the county keeps both on its Cascades page.