Fort Atkinson is a city in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, United States.

Fort Atkinson was named after General Henry Atkinson,[5] the commander of U.S. forces in the area during the Black Hawk War (1832) against a mixed band of Sauk, Meskwaki and Kickapoo peoples.

The settlement grew rapidly in the mid-19th century, after the migration of pioneers from the east, especially New York State and the northern tier.

They were among the many migrants carrying New England Yankee culture west across the northern tier of states.

The oldest manmade features near Fort Atkinson are a cluster of prehistoric earthworks indigenous mounds just south of town.

Early European settlers named them the General Atkinson Mound Group.

They had settlements throughout the Mississippi Valley and its tributaries, extending from central Illinois northward to the Great Lakes and also to the Southeastern United States.

[8] Fort Atkinson's 19th- and early 20th-century building history is preserved in the Main Street and Merchants Avenue historic districts.

Other Registered Historic Places include the Fort Atkinson Water Tower, David W. and Jane Curtis House, Hoard's Dairyman Farm, and Jones Dairy Farm.

[10] The city developed along the river, which provided the earliest transportation pathways for trade and travel.

Occasionally, the downtown area is flooded when the Rock River exceeds its banks.

The city's largest employer is Fort HealthCare, an integrated hospital and health system.

Fort Atkinson Memorial Hospital has 82 licensed beds and more than 100 physicians on staff.

[15] The city is also home to Cygnus Business Media, NASCO, Spacesaver and Jones Dairy Farm.

Fort Atkinson shares a radio market with the Janesville-Beloit area and is also served by stations from Milwaukee and Madison.

Fort Atkinson is a part of the Milwaukee television market with stations from Madison also available over the air and on cable.

It is located in the southwest portion of the town on the corner of hackbarth road and Endl Bulevard.

Highway 26 provides easy access to Interstate 94 (to the north in Johnson Creek), leading to downtown Milwaukee in about an hour; and to Interstate 90 (to the south in Janesville) leading to downtown Chicago in about 2.5 hours.