Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 51% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1894 on, and the census since 1870.
The Augusta post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 51% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Augusta is more historic than 51% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
Wisconsin towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Wisconsin town has 3.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Augusta’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (28% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1894Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Augusta.
Augusta was formerly called Ridge Creek. A post office has been in operation in Augusta since 1858. The city was named in 1856 after Augusta, Maine. Another theory holds that the town was named Augusta after citizens agreed to name the village after the prettiest girl in the area.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Augusta, cut from the printed page as they were published.
feated by a vote of 66 to 16. This was about the voting strength of the town at that time. In 1877 the towns of Ludington and Fairchild were organized and set off from Bridge Creek. The village of Augusta was organized and set off in 1883. This left Bridge Creek with less than three townships. In the eai'ly days nearly all of the northern and eastern portions of the town were covered by forests and these were watered by numerous small streams, tributaries to the Eau Claire river.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
chairman. Since that time the town of Bridge Creek has been cut down from time to time until it consisted of but the three townships that now constitute its area. For years after the organization of the town of Bridge Creek Augusta was a part thereof, and the chairman of the town board of Bridge Creek was the representative of Augusta at the meetings of the county board. As an indication of the value of the property assessed in Bridge Creek in 1857 the sum raised for school purposes that
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Augusta. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Augusta.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Augusta’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 761 people in 1870 to 1,567 in 2020.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Augusta’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Augusta’s post office has been open since 1858.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
The Augusta post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Augusta is more historic than 51% 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.
34% of Augusta’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.8 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1957.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (3), the Library of Congress (9), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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