Sun Prairie is a city in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. A suburb of Madison, it is part of the Madison metropolitan area. The population was 35,967 at the 2020 census. President Martin Van Buren commissioned a party of 45 men, including Augustus A. Bird, to build a capital for the Territory of Wisconsin in Madison. The group left Milwaukee on May 26, 1837, and traveled for days in the rain. On June 9, the group emerged at the edge of the prairie and with the sun shining for the first time in days, carved the words "Sun Prairie" into a tree. Charles Bird returned to the area two years later and became the first settler.
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