Town file
Colby, Wisconsin
Colby, Wisconsin (Clark and Marathon counties, Wisconsin) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 192, "Angry, Bloody & Ridiculous" (8 October 2020). Robert Pogue was a butcher by trade, a meat cutter at Century Foods in Abbotsford, Wisconsin, and a man who liked loud music, hot rod racing and his two pit bulls.
- Town
- Colby
- County
- Clark and Marathon counties
- State
- Wisconsin
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 192
- Approximate location
- 44.911, -90.316
Episode 192 / 8 October 2020 / 168 min / full
Angry, Bloody & Ridiculous
"It's in central Wisconsin ... in two different counties, Clark and Marathon counties." about 0:05:45
The case: Murder of Robert Pogue (May 30, 1990). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2020
- Population
- 667
- Median age
- 36 and a half
- Median household income
- $45,000
- Median home value
- $109,500
- Two-bedroom rent
- about $700
- Cost of living
- 77 out of 100
- Religious
- 58.2%
- Property crime
- ▼ about 25% below
- Violent crime
- ▼ less than half
History, in brief
- The Wisconsin Central Railroad was building its line through the woods towards Lake Superior and finished the 1872 construction season with the rails completed at Colby. about 0:06:56
- The place was first called Section 53. about 0:07:40
- The station was renamed in honour of Charles L. Colby, a partner in the construction company and son of railroad financier Gardner L. Colby. about 0:08:20
- Colby is the birthplace of Colby cheese, and a historical marker in downtown Colby commemorates its development by Joseph Steinwand in 1874. about 0:08:58
- Ambrose Steinwand passed his cheese-making art to his son Joseph F. Steinwand, who perfected a washed curd process that gave Colby its mild flavour. about 0:09:12
- It takes slightly more than a gallon of milk to produce a pound of Colby cheese. about 0:09:31
- An 1898 issue of the Colby Phonograph noted that a merchant in Phillips sold the genuine Steinwand Colby cheese. about 0:10:22
- Colby cheese is no longer made in the town of Colby; a factory east of town cuts and packages it, and the former cheese factory is now a dilapidated building. about 0:14:37
The reviews read out
5 stars
"A small, quaint, rural-feeling town where everyone knows everybody, surrounded by farmland but with good amenities four minutes down the road; a wonderful place to raise children although the schools are not good and job opportunities are limited."about 0:15:52
0 stars
"After three years in Colby the reviewer says the water tastes disgusting, is beyond hard, makes skin ashy and dry and has damaged their hair; 118 people agreed and 156 disagreed."about 0:16:59
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Phillips, Wisconsin54 miles
- Tomah, Wisconsin64 miles
- Spring Brook, Wisconsin70 miles
- Menomonie, Wisconsin78 miles
- Crandon, Wisconsin83 miles
- Baraboo, Wisconsin104 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.