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History · Arpin

Arpin’s post office opened in 1891, and 44% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1954 on and the census since 1980.

1891first post office
0on the National Register
44%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Arpin began

When was Arpin founded?

1891

The Arpin post office opened in 1891, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 361 in 19802020 census: 305135 years
Founding year: the first Arpin post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Arpin’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 Arpin are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Arpin’s homes were built before 1959.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Arpin’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Arpin came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Arpin.

Read it all →

The first village of Arpin was started around 1890 when the John Arpin Lumber Company built a sawmill a mile east of the present village, on Little Hemlock Creek. John Baptiste Arpin and his twin brother Antoine came from Quebec and had been logging in this part of Wisconsin since the 1860s. By 1890 they were working with John's sons. To give an idea of their scale of operations, John Arpin's house built in 1890 still stands in Wisconsin Rapids - the beautiful Queen Anne-styled house on First Street facing the river. Back in that first Arpin, a store, a post office, some homes, a Presbyterian church, and a creamery grew up near the sawmill. The first postmaster was John's son, J. Z.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Arpin, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Indian Bill Cemetery2010Indian Bill CemeteryWIMap-doton-Arpin2005WIMap-doton-Arpin
On the map

Arpin on the map, 1954 to 1979

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

Arpin on the 1954 USGS mapArpin on the 1979 USGS map1954Marshfield 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 Arpin.

People over time

Arpin, census by census

0100200300400198020002020Peak: 361

Between 305 and 361 people in every census since 1980.

5 censuses, 1980–2020.

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

Questions about Arpin’s history

What year was Arpin founded?

The Arpin post office opened in 1891, 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 →
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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 (2), Wikipedia, 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.