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History · Adell

Adell’s post office opened in 1851, and 28% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1954 on and the census since 1920.

1851first post office
0on the National Register
28%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Adell began

When was Adell founded?

1851

The Adell post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 246 in 19202020 census: 498175 years
Founding year: the first Adell post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Adell’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Adell are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Adell’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Adell’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Adell came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Adell.

Read it all →

Originally called Sherman's Station after the town was laid out around a depot after an 1855 land purchase, the name Adell came about after a post office that used to operate in the area.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Adell, 1851 to 1954

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1851Post officeThe Adell post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1906Born hereHildegarde is born here
  5. 1954On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Adell, decade by decade

Today8 recent
AdellWisconsinWelcomeSign2009AdellWisconsinWelcomeSignAdellWisconsinVillageHallFireStation2009AdellWisconsinVillageHallFireStationAdellWisconsinSign2009AdellWisconsinSignAdellWisconsinDowntown22009AdellWisconsinDowntown2AdellWisconsinDowntown12009AdellWisconsinDowntown1AdellPostOffice2009AdellPostOfficeAdellMunicipalGarage2009AdellMunicipalGarageWIMap-doton-Adell2005WIMap-doton-Adell
On the map

Adell on the map, 1954 to 1974

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Adell. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Adell on the 1954 USGS mapAdell on the 1974 USGS map1954Sheboygan Falls sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Adell.

People over time

Adell, census by census

0100200300400500600192019401960198020002020Peak: 545

Between 246 and 545 people in every census since 1920.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Adell’s Wikipedia page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Sherman3 historic placesA

Questions about Adell’s history

What year was Adell founded?

The Adell post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (8), 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.