The six mile square that would become Brighton was first surveyed in September 1851 by a crew working for the U.S. government. In December 1853 and January 1854 another crew marked its section corners, walking through the woods and wading the streams, measuring with chain and compass. When done, the deputy surveyor filed this general description:
This Township contains but few swamps. The land being generally good 2nd(?) Rate quality. The surface generally level. There are but few streams in this Township. The streams are all lined with Alder, and in many places would make good meadows(?). The Prevailing(?) Timber is Hemlock. The Pine is of Poor quality and scattering.
Passages that mention Brighton, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Marathon County, Wisconsin1913 · page 555Read the page →
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board established also the town of Brighton, but the act estabhshing town of Brighton was repealed in the same session, leaving "Hull" as the only town from the "line."
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History of Marathon County, Wisconsin1913 · page 237Read the page →
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consin Central Railroad lasted. He is still farming, devoting himself to stock raising. He has been postmaster in the village of Unity, chairman of the town board of the town of Brighton, and also supervisor of the village of Unity, which municipalities he represented in the county board of Marathon county. He is one of the pioneer settlers of the western part of the county, coming to Unity as the right of way was being cut out, and when only one little shanty stood at the site of Unity, which had been built only a few weeks before to give shelter to the workmen on the railroad. He was a
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Brighton, 1879 to 1984
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
