Waupun is a city in Dodge and Fond du Lac counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin.

Waupun was founded in 1839 by Seymour Wilcox, the first settler along the Rock River in what was then deciduous forested land.

Wilcox chose the land on recommendation of John Bannister, the first surveyor of Fond du Lac County, who reported to the government office in Green Bay that "the Rock River Valley was the most beautiful and fertile he had ever seen.

"[6] Wilcox surveyed the land himself in late fall of 1838, returning to Green Bay for the winter.

In February 1839 he returned to the plot he laid out accompanied by two men, John N. Ackerman and Hiram Walker, who were interested in the powerful river and fertile land.

They quickly nailed together a shanty to four bur oaks and began building a suitable cabin for the Wilcox homestead.

Leaving Ackerman and Walker to finish, Wilcox returned to Green Bay to bring his family to their new home.

The first town election took place in 1842 at the Wilcox home; eleven votes were cast.

[6] In 1851, the city was chosen for the State Penitentiary, owing to the abundance of limestone for construction.

[9] The Waupun Library Association was established in 1858 through the efforts of William Euen and Edwin Hillyer.

In 1900, through the fundraising efforts of the Waupun Women's Club, it became a free public library.

Despite public opposition, the camp was constructed next to the canning factory, south of Doty Street.

The prisoners were brought to Wisconsin to relieve deficits of manpower in the area factories and farms.

The 2020 census population of the city included 2,867 people incarcerated in adult correctional facilities.

(Note: The above statistics may not accurately reflect the civilian population, as the census includes 2,741 incarcerated males (2008) in Waupun's state correctional institutions.)

Waupun is governed by a common council with a mayor and six alderman elected from districts.

This prison gerrymandering gives outsized electoral power to other residents in the districts relative to others.

[24] Waupun is home to a collection of outdoor sculptures by Clarence Addison Shaler, a manufacturer, inventor, and sculptor from the local area.

These sculptures include The Dawn of Day, Who Sows Believes in God, The Pioneers, and The Recording Angel, among others.

[25] A bronze copy of James Earle Fraser's well-known End of the Trail statue stands in Shaler Park.