Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 36% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1912 on and old-book passages.
The Blair post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 36% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Blair is more historic than 36% 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 Blair’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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Blair’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Blair.
The city was first settled during the 1850s. The majority of the city's population are descended from Norwegian settlers, with a smaller group descended from German settlers. The city's Norwegian heritage is represented by annual lefse and lutefisk suppers at the churches and a love of polka music. A lefse company is located in Blair.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Blair, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Blair was platted April 16, 1877 (as Porterville, Sept. 2 and 3, 1873), and was incorporated Sept. 6, 1894. The census of 1910 shows the population of the villages as follows: Arcadia, 1,212; Galesville, 873; Whitehall, 703; Independence, 664; Trempealeau, 535; Osseo, 548; Blair, 486; Eleva, 319.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
In the meantime Ebenezer Thurston had given forty acres to the railroad, and on a part of the Porter estate, Duke Porter had platted a village which he called Porterville. The Hiles & Ketchum plat of Blair, the railroad plat, was filed April 16, 1877. Later the land was the subject of considei'able litigation, and the title to some of the best land in the village remained long in dispute, some of the railroad officials claiming that the plat belonged to them personally instead of to the railroad as a company.
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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Blair’s page.
Retake this view · +15Nobody well known was born in Blair itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Blair’s post office has been open since 1874.
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 Blair post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Blair is more historic than 36% 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.
16% of Blair’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.3 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1968.
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 (6), 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.
1912
2023
2012
2012
2012
2005