Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1893 on and old-book passages.
The Avon post office opened in 1847, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Avon Centre (1867), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Avon’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Avon. 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 Avon.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Avon yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
The Town of Avon is located in Rock County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 570 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1847. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 608 to 570 (-6%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Avon, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Ill the town of Avon there is one village, Avon Center. The town has no railroad, although one has been projected through its territory. About one-fourth of Avon lies southwest of Sugar River. The town has but one post office — Avon Center.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
shipped them to Beloit, Wis., where he opened a dry-goods, boot and shoe and grocery store; this business he carried on for about three years, and, in 1849, he went to Cambridge, Dane Co., and bouglit a town site and mill property, built a grist and saw mill, and ran them for two years and a half, when he sold them out; in 1851, he bought another town site in Avon, Kock Co., Wis., built up a water-power and started a general store and also purchased 3,000 acres of land there ; in 1852, he sold out the water-power and store and returned to Beloit ; he then traded his residence for the first frame building that was built in Beloit, then known as the Dearborn residence and bakery, on the present site of the Eclipse Wind-Mill oflBce, where he opened a general store ; one year after, he sold out his stock of goods to Keyes & White,
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.
Born hereTheodore W. Goldin is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Avon had its own post office from 1847 to 1859. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Avon post office opened in 1847, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System 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.
