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History · Blue Mounds

23% of Blue Mounds’ homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Little Norway. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1962 on, and the census since 1930.

1on the National Register
23%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Blue Mounds’ archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Blue Mounds’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Blue Mounds’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Blue Mounds’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewBelle Case La Follette speaking in Blue…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Blue Mounds, in brief

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

Blue Mounds is a village in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. As of the 2020 census, the village had a population of 950. The village is adjacent to the Town of Blue Mounds, and is part of the Madison metropolitan area. Blue Mounds was named by French missionaries for the blueish hue of three nearby mounds.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 968 to 899 (-7%).

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

From the old history books

What they wrote about Blue Mounds in 1880

Passages that mention Blue Mounds, cut from the printed page as they were published.

Passage from History of Dane County, Wisconsin ... preceded by a history of Wisconsin, statistics of the state, and an abstract of its laws and constitution and of the Constitution of the United States that mentions Blue Mounds
History of Dane County, Wisconsin ... preceded by a history of Wisconsin, statistics of the state, and an abstract of its laws and constitution and of the Constitution of the United States1880 · page 879Read the page →
New Bailroads in Dane County. — There are now two railroads in process of construction in the county by the Chicago & North-Western Company ; the Chicago & Tomah Railroad, and the Milwaukee & Madison Railway. The former enters the county from the west, in the extreme northwest corner of the town of…
History of Dane County, Wisconsin ... preceded by a history of Wisconsin, statistics of the state, and an abstract of its laws and constitution and of the Constitution of the United States1880 · page 611Read the page →
Read the text

New Bailroads in Dane County. — There are now two railroads in process of construction in the county by the Chicago & North-Western Company ; the Chicago & Tomah Railroad, and the Milwaukee & Madison Railway. The former enters the county from the west, in the extreme northwest corner of the town of Blue Mounds, runs through the northern part of that town and the town of Springdale, south to the center of the town of Verona, then northeast through the northwest corner of the town of Fitchburg, and terminates in the southeast corner of the town of Madison, where it strikes the Chicago & North-Western.

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

Blue Mounds, 1915 to 1981

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 20th century
  2. 1915In the archiveBelle Case La Follette speaking in Blue Mounds, Wisconsin in 1915
  3. 1962On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 1981Born hereMike Wilkinson is born here
By decade

Blue Mounds, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s1 item
Belle Case La Follette speaking in Blue Mounds, Wisconsin in 19151915Belle Case La Follette speaking in Blue Mounds, Wisco…
1920s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today11 recent
Blue Mounds Wastewater Treatment Plant2013Blue Mounds Wastewater Treatment PlantAmerican Tower Site 3107362013American Tower Site 310736West Blue Mound Tallest Point in Southren Wisconsin2012West Blue Mound Tallest Point in Southren WisconsinHi-Way Holstein Ranch2012Hi-Way Holstein RanchEast Blue Mound2012East Blue MoundDairyfood USA Inc2012Dairyfood USA IncBluemoundswi2007BluemoundswiBlue mounds ft2007Blue mounds ftBlue Mounds Opera House-22006Blue Mounds Opera House-2WisconsinHorizon2005WisconsinHorizonWIMap-doton-Blue Mounds2004WIMap-doton-Blue Mounds
On the map

Blue Mounds on the map in 1962

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Blue Mounds.

Blue Mounds on the 1962 USGS map1962Daleyville sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Blue Mounds.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Belle Case La Follette speaking in Blue Mounds, Wisconsin in 1915
Retake this viewBelle Case La Follette speaking in Blue Mounds, Wisconsin in 1915, 1915

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Blue Mounds’ page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Blue Mounds

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
20
each building in a district counts
first listed
1998
Little Norway
Little Norway
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Late Victorian1
Modern Movement1
Little NorwayLate Victorian

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

People over time

Blue Mounds, census by census

02004006008001,00019401960198020002020948

Grew from 182 people in 1930 to 948 in 2020, 5 times over.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Blue Mounds’ Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Old corners and burying grounds

Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Little Norway
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Blue Mounds
East Blue Mounds LutheranGerman ValleyNorth Side

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.

Mount Horeb7 historic placesBPerry3 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townVermontIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSpringdale3 historic placesBBrigham1 historic placeA−

Questions about Blue Mounds’ history

What is on the National Register in Blue Mounds?

One place: the Little Norway (listed 1998).

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 Wikimedia Commons (12), the National Register of Historic Places (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.