Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1902 on and the census since 1870.
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 Bloomington’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Bloomington yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Bloomington is a village in Grant County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 741 as of the 2020 census. The village is located within the Town of Bloomington.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 350 to 331 (-5%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Bloomington, cut from the printed page as they were published.
As has been seen, the town of Patch Grove was created by the Board of Supervisors at the special session held in 1848, and included, besides the present township of Patch Grove, the present township of Mount Hope, Woodman, Millville, Wyaiusing, and the greater part of the present township of Bloomington. The first township election was held at the old schoolhouse, noticed as still standing in the north part of the village, April 3, 1849. At the town meeting held the same day Hiram Bronson was elected Moderator or Chairman, and Thomas Nagle, Clerk.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The first school district in what is now the township of Bloomington was organized in the year 1844. The first schoolhouse built in the township was built in District No. 4, and was a log structure. The building at this point was afterward known, and is yet, as the " old red schoolhouse," and could its old walls speak they would have many a wierd tale to pass in slow procession before the astonished listener. The first teacher to hold rule on the wooden throne and deal out " birchings " and learning with impartial hand was D. Angerlist. The schoolhouse first used by the children of the young village was located about three-fourths of a mile west of the village, but, in 1857, it was moved into town and placed on the site of the present one, where
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
About 1843 E. P. Finn, James M. Otis, and L. O. Shrader, bought eighty acres of land and laid out a town just above the present vil¬ lage. Mr. Finn had quite an experience in beginning towns. He was the first settler on the sites of the villages of' Bloomington and Patch Grove, and laid out the latter town, and was interested in the town of New Cincinnati on the Mississippi, a few’ miles below Wyalusing.
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 hereAnne Sewell Young is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bloomington. 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 Bloomington.
Between 365 and 776 people in every census since 1870.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bloomington’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
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 Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikidata (1), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
2013