Town file
Columbus, Wisconsin
Columbus, Wisconsin (Columbia County, Wisconsin) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 302, "Too Gruesome To Solve" (21 July 2022). Marilyn McIntyre was 18 years old when she was killed in her apartment at South Ludington Street in Columbus, Wisconsin, in the early hours of March 11, 1980.
- Town
- Columbus
- County
- Columbia County
- State
- Wisconsin
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 302
- Approximate location
- 43.337, -89.030
Episode 302 / 21 July 2022 / 177 min / full
Too Gruesome To Solve
"This is Columbus, Wisconsin. That is in south-central Wisconsin... This is in Columbia County, area code 920." about 0:06:11
The case: Murder of Marilyn McIntyre (March 11, 1980). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2022
- Population
- 5,117
- Median age
- 36 and a half
- Median household income
- $57,000 a year
- Median home value
- $218,600
- Two-bedroom rent
- $877 a month
- Cost of living
- $90
- Religious
- 56%
- Property crime
- ▼ about 20% under the national average
- Violent crime
- ▼ about half of the national average
History, in brief
- H.A. Whitney came from Vermont and moved to Columbus in 1845, where he built the first wood-framed store building in the community; it served as a store, tavern, rooming house and post office. about 0:07:19
- After being open for 12 years, the building burned to the ground in 1857 and was replaced by the current Whitney Hotel in 1858. about 0:08:03
- In the 1880s the Whitney became a stopover where visiting doctors and health practitioners set up shop; at one point a 40-foot-long tapeworm was delivered in the ballroom. about 0:08:47
- Near the turn of the 20th century the ballroom was turned into an apartment. about 0:10:32
The reviews read out
4 stars
"An area where people can live without a lot of dramatic stuff on the streets; nothing like Milwaukee, a small town where everyone knows everyone, with little retail and a need to drive elsewhere for stores, but overall a quaint little town with friendly people."about 0:12:10
3 stars
"The reviewer moved to Columbus in the middle of high school from South Carolina and found it extremely uninviting, with students who were not welcoming and people who were rude; they would not have chosen to move there and miss South Carolina terribly, but still give it three stars because it is pretty as all get-out."about 0:12:51
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Windsor, Wisconsin14 miles
- Jefferson, Wisconsin26 miles
- Oconomowoc, Wisconsin31 miles
- Baraboo, Wisconsin37 miles
- Mount Horeb, Wisconsin42 miles
- Fond du Lac, Wisconsin42 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.