RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Wisconsin >> Jackson County >> Irving >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Irving, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Irving and the surrounding area.

  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Irving:
    • 44.189962, -90.901252
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Irving
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Jackson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jackson County
    • Since Irving is near Monroe County and also La Crosse County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Monroe County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for La Crosse County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Irving

Communities Also Named Irving ...

We found eighteen communities that are also named Irving.

Within Wisconsin, the name Irving is unique.

Beyond Wisconsin, we know of eighteen communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Marin County
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the California community of Irving [Marin County].
    • Illinois
      • Montgomery County
      • This Irving is located in Montgomery County and lies 352 miles [566.5 km]<2> to the south southeast of the Irving that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Irving.
    • Iowa
      • Benton County
      • This Irving is located in Benton County and lies 169 miles [272 km]<2> to the south southwest of the Irving that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Benton County community of Irving.
    • Kansas
      • Marshall County
      • This community is historic<1> and although located in Marshall County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marshall County community of Irving.
    • Kentucky
      • Pendleton County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kentucky community of Irving [Pendleton County].
    • Michigan
      • Barry County
      • This Irving is located in Barry County and lies 293 miles [471.5 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Irving that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Barry County community of Irving.
    • Minnesota
      • Kandiyohi County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Minnesota community of Irving [Kandiyohi County].
    • Missouri
      • Saint Louis County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Missouri community of Irving [Saint Louis County].
    • Nevada
      • Eureka County
      • This community is historic<1> and although located in Eureka County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Eureka County community of Irving.
    • New York
      • Chautauqua County
      • This Irving is located in Chautauqua County and lies 601 miles [967.2 km]<2> to the east of the Irving that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Chautauqua County community of Irving.
    • Oklahoma
      • Jefferson County
      • This Irving is located in Jefferson County and lies 797 miles [1,282.6 km]<2> to the south southwest of the Irving that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Irving.
    • Oregon
      • Lane County
      • This Irving is located in Lane County and lies 1,588 miles [2,555.6 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Irving that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lane County community of Irving.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Schuylkill County
      • This Irving is located in Schuylkill County and lies 778 miles [1,252.1 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Irving that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Schuylkill County community of Irving.
    • South Carolina
      • Greenwood County
      • This Irving is located in Greenwood County and lies 826 miles [1,329.3 km]<2> to the southeast of the Irving that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Greenwood County community of Irving.
    • South Dakota
      • Spink County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the South Dakota community of Irving [Spink County].
    • Texas
      • Dallas County
      • This Irving is located in Dallas County and lies 847 miles [1,363.1 km]<2> to the south southwest of the Irving that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dallas County community of Irving.
    • Virginia
      • Bedford County
      • This Irving is located in Bedford County and lies 752 miles [1,210.2 km]<2> to the southeast of the Irving that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bedford County community of Irving.
    • West Virginia
      • Harrison County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the West Virginia community of Irving [Harrison County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Irving ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Blair
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Blair is located in Trempealeau County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blair
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,330 people
  • Burns
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Burns is located in La Crosse County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burns
  • Cataract
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Cataract is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cataract
  • Disco
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Disco is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Disco
  • Four Corners
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Four Corners is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Four Corners
  • Franklin
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Franklin is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franklin
  • Lees Crossing
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Lees Crossing is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lees Crossing
  • Lynxville
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Lynxville is located in Crawford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lynxville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 125 people
  • Shamrock
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Shamrock is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shamrock
  • Speck Oaks
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Speck Oaks is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Speck Oaks
  • Stevenstown
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Stevenstown is located in La Crosse County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stevenstown

How Far From Irving to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Irving to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Irving and extending to:

  • Black River Falls, which is the Seat of Jackson County, lies just to the North Northeast.
  • Madison, which is the State Capital of Wisconsin, lies 107 miles [172.2 km]<2> to the southeast (SE). If you could drive a straight line from Irving to Madison, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 802 miles [1,290.7 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 32 days and walking would take 46 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,184 miles [9,952.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,934 miles [11,159.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,832 miles [7,776.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Irving, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Irving) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Irving could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<4>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<5>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Irving to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Irving. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.1900, Longitude: -90.9013       In this case, the coordinates for Irving have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.641 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.168 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.583 degrees.