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–Not graded
History · Barnes

Barnes’ post office opened in 1907, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Barnes was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1986. Its Register listing is the Island Lake Camp.

1907first post office
1on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Barnes began

When was Barnes founded?

1907

The Barnes post office opened in 1907, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 823119 years
Founding year: the first Barnes post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Barnes’ 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 Barnes are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Barnes’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Barnes’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 so far

Barnes, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Barnes yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Barnes is a town in Bayfield County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 823 at the 2020 census, up from 769 at the 2010 census. The town was named for an early settler named George Sardis Barnes who opened the first hotel, saloon, and store north of the Eau Claire lakes in the late 1880s.

Its first post office opened in 1907. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 769 to 823 (+7%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the National Register

1 historic place in Barnes

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
5
each building in a district counts
first listed
1982
Island Lake Camp
Island Lake Camp
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Rustic1
All 1 listings
Island Lake CampBuilding · listed 1982

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Barnes

Nobody well known was born in Barnes itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Sean DuffyAmerican politician, former sports commentator … · b. 1971
D
Dan PlanteAmerican ice hockey player · b. 1971
D
Dean NyquistAmerican lawyer and politician · b. 1935
Thorvald A. SolbergUnited States Navy admiral · b. 1894
C
Chuck EisenmannAmerican baseball player · b. 1918
J. R. SalzmanRecipient of the Purple Heart medal · b. 1979
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Barnes had its own post office from 1907 to 1938.

Barnes
1907–1938
19001960today
Gone or out of use
Barnes SchoolschoolHall SchoolschoolPease Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Barnes
Barnes Memorial

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

HighlandIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townDrummondIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townDeltaIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCable1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHughesIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLenrootIts storyDGordon2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWascottIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Barnes’ history

What year was Barnes founded?

The Barnes post office opened in 1907, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Barnes?

One place: the Island Lake Camp (listed 1982).

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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.