The story
Read it all →How Wagner came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Wagner.
Wagner was founded in 1900. The town was incorporated in 1907, and was named for Walt Wagner, local postmaster.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
C+History
History · Wagner
Wagner’s post office opened in 1896, and 26% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 42% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1964 on, and the census since 1910.
1896first post office
0on the National Register
26%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Quick answers
How Wagner began
When was Wagner founded?
1896
The Wagner post office opened in 1896, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 964 in 19102020 census: 1,490130 years
How historic is Wagner?
C+
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 42% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Wagner post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Wagner’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Wagner is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Wagner’s overall grade.
Founding era1896, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194025.6% of homes (±5.8) · typical SD town 10.4% · U.S. 8.4%A−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical SD town 37.3 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 42%
NewerOlder
South Dakota towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical South Dakota town has 37.3 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Wagner’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (15% of South Dakota towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.8 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Wagner’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Wagner’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Wagner’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Timeline
Wagner, 1896 to 1966
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1896Post officeThe Wagner post office opens
- 20th century
- 1930
Born hereDoug Eggers is born here - 1964
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 1966
In the archiveBlizzard '66
By decade
Wagner, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1960s1 item
1970s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your albumToday1 recent
2004On the map
Wagner on the map, 1964 to 1986
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Wagner. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1964Wagner sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Wagner.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewBlizzard '66, 1966
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Wagner’s page.
Retake this view · +15People over time
Wagner, census by census
Between 964 and 1,675 people in every census since 1910.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Wagner’s Wikipedia page.
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Wagner’s history
What year was Wagner founded?
The Wagner post office opened in 1896, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Wagner rank for history?
Wagner is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Wagner?
26% of Wagner’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.8 points), against a typical 10% for a South Dakota town; the median home was built in 1959.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
Sources
Where this page comes from
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikidata (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.