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B−History
History · Brothertown

Brothertown’s post office opened in 1859, and 35% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 52% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: maps from 1910 on.

1859first post office
0on the National Register
35%homes built before 1940
Quick answers

How Brothertown began

When was Brothertown founded?

1859

The Brothertown post office opened in 1859, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Charlesburgh (1871) and Jericho (1889), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 1,328167 years

How historic is Brothertown?

B−

More historic than 52% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Brothertown post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Brothertown’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Brothertown is more historic than 52% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Brothertown’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 52%
NewerOlder

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 Brothertown’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.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.7 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

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 →

What stands out about Brothertown’s past

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

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Brothertown’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Brothertown had its own post office from 1859 to 1903. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Brothertown
1859–1903
Charlesburgh
1871–1904
Jericho
1889–1903
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
CharlesburgJerichoMaple Heights
Gone or out of use
Buechel QuarrymineChilton QuarrymineDarling Schoolschool
6cemeteries and burying grounds inside Brothertown
Dick FamilyHoly TrinityMorrill FamilyRothmannSaint CharlesUnion

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

On the map

Brothertown on the map, 1910 to 1992

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Brothertown. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Brothertown on the 1910 USGS mapBrothertown on the 1955 USGS mapBrothertown on the 1974 USGS mapBrothertown on the 1992 USGS map1910Fond du Lac sheet · 1:62,500

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

The story

How Brothertown came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Brothertown.

Read it all →

The town was inhabited by the Brothertown Indians, who moved there from the state of New York from 1831 to 1836. The town was created on March 21, 1843, as "Manchester". There is also record of this town being referred to by name in the early 1850s as Pequot The post office there in 1841 (when the area was still Wisconsin Territory) was called Pequot, and the Pequot post office name still appeared in the 1862 issue of the Wisconsin Blue Book; and "Sequoit". It was renamed "Brothertown" on May 4/May 5, 1857.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Brothertown, 1859 to 1910

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1859Post officeThe Brothertown post office opens
  3. 1871Post officeThe Charlesburgh post office opens
  4. 1889Post officeThe Jericho post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1903Post officeThe Brothertown post office closes
  7. 1903Post officeThe Jericho post office closes
  8. 1904Post officeThe Charlesburgh post office closes
  9. 1910On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Brothertown, decade by decade

Famous people

Famous people close to Brothertown

Nobody well known was born in Brothertown itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Questions about Brothertown’s history

What year was Brothertown founded?

The Brothertown post office opened in 1859, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Brothertown rank for history?

Brothertown is more historic than 52% 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.

How old are the homes in Brothertown?

35% of Brothertown’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.7 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1966.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.