The story
Read it all →How Big Falls came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Big Falls.
The village was founded in 1882 as a lumbering town, and was named for the Little Wolf River falls.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Big Falls
Big Falls dates to 1882, and 21% of its homes were built before 1940
Below: maps from 1970 on and the census since 1930.
1882founded
0on the National Register
21%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Quick answers
How Big Falls began
When was Big Falls founded?
1882
Big Falls dates its founding to 1882 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1930.
First census: 178 in 19302020 census: 60144 years
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1890.The full story ↓
What stands out about Big Falls’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Big Falls’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Big Falls’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.From the old history books
What they wrote about Big Falls in 1890
Passages that mention Big Falls, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Waupaca county, Wisconsin1890 · page 169Read the page →
Read the text
In 1887, A. W. Whitcomb built a saw mill and opened a store at Big Falls, on the Little Wolf River, in Section 26, Township 25 north. Range 11 east, (which township was a part of Helvetia until set off into the independent Town of Wyoming, by the County Board at the annual meeting in November, 1890.)
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.
Timeline
Big Falls, 1882 to 1970
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1882FoundingBig Falls is established
- 1890Post officeThe Big Falls post office opens
- 20th century
- 1915Born hereOrville Emil Bloch is born here
- 1970
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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 albumOn the map
Big Falls on the map, 1970 to 1992
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Big Falls. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1970Big Falls sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Big Falls.
People over time
Big Falls, census by census
Between 60 and 187 people in every census since 1930.
10 censuses, 1930–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Big Falls’ Wikipedia page.
Questions about Big Falls’ history
What year was Big Falls founded?
In 1882, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Big Falls’ post office opened in 1890, and the census of 1930 counted 178 people here.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 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 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.