After reaching the village of Spring Green, the road to Helena, the location of the old shot tower, crosses the Wisconsin River and deflects to the left. This shot tower was erected in 1833 as a result of the production of lead in Wisconsin and at the time diverted much of the business from St. Louis to Milwaukee. The enterprise prospered until 1861 when it fell into decay, the land being sold for taxes. Later the location became the site of the Tower Hill Congress and school directed for many years by the late Rev. Jenkin Lloyd Jones of Chicago.
It was here that the American forces crossed the river in the Black Hawk War.
A short distance west of the road which crosses the river near Spring Green is the location of Taliesin, Frank Lloyd Wright's 'love bungalow'. Here on Saturday, August 15, 1914, Julian Carlson, a negro servant, killed seven people with a hatchet, wounding two others. The dead:
Mrs. Mamah Borthwick, a woman, like the owner of the bungalow, with unconventional ideas.
Mrs. Borthwick's son and daughter, John and Martha Cheney, aged 11 and 9 respectively.
Emil Brodelle, aged 30, an architect.
Thomas Brunker, hostler.
Ernest Weston, aged 13.
David Lindblom, gardener.