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is a city in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. It straddles the Yahara River about 20 miles southeast of the capital, Madison. Stoughton is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its estimated population in 2004 was 12,692.
Stoughton is known for its Norwegian heritage: It hosts a citywide celebration of Syttende Mai, the Norwegian constitution day, on the weekend closest to May 17. Its sister city is Gjøvik, Norway. Part of the city's celebration of its Norwegian heritage is the Stoughton Norwegian Dancers dance group, sponsored by Stoughton High School.
Stoughton was founded in 1847 by Luke Stoughton, an Englishman from Vermont. Many Norwegian immigrants settled in the town from 1865 through the early 1900s.
In 1919, Stoughton Wagon Company began putting custom wagon bodies on Model T chassis; by 1929 Ford was by far the biggest seller of station wagons.
On August 18, 2005, an F3 tornado cut a 10-mile path across rural subdivisions and farms north of Stoughton, killing one person and damaging hundreds of homes.