History · Brown Deer

Brown Deer’s post office opened in 1885, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

More historic than 35% of U.S. towns · #265 of 362 in Wisconsin. What drives it

Most of Brown Deer was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1969. Its Register listing is the Brown Deer School. Below: maps from 1892 on and the census since 1960.

1885first post office

1on the National Register

5%homes built before 1940

1famous people

Add an old photo Share a memory

Quick answers

How Brown Deer began

When was Brown Deer founded?

1885

The Brown Deer post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 11,280 in 19602020 census: 12,507141 years

How historic is Brown Deer?

More historic than 35% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

Founding year: the first Brown Deer post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

History grade

What drives Brown Deer’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Brown Deer is more historic than 35% of U.S. towns, #265 of 362 in Wisconsin. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Brown Deer’s overall grade.

Founding era1885, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC⁺Homes built before 19404.9% of homes (±3.9) · typical WI town 12.1% · U.S. 8.4%C National Register1 listing, 0.8 per 10,000 residents · typical WI town 3.0 · U.S. 2.4B⁻

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 35%

NewerOlder

Wisconsin towns of 2,500+ (362)Ahead of 27%

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 Brown Deer’s 0.8 sits near the middle of its state (57% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.9 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 Brown Deer’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Brown Deer are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18924 editions of the USGS map, 1892 to 1971. Watch Brown Deer change.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Brown Deer’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

On the map

Brown Deer on the map, 1892 to 1971

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

1892Milwaukee 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 Brown Deer.

The story

How Brown Deer came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Brown Deer.

Read it all →

The Brown Deer area was organized as part of the Town of Milwaukee in 1835, and the first white settlers began arriving around that time from New England and New York, including some settlers from Granville, New York. In 1841, the Town of Milwaukee was subdivided and the Brown Deer area became part of the new Town of Granville. In the 1800s, the town was a predominantly agricultural community, and many residents were of German and Irish extraction.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Brown Deer, 1884 to 1980

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

19th century
1884BuiltBrown Deer School is built
1885Post officeThe Brown Deer post office opens
1892On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
20th century
1903Post officeThe Brown Deer post office closes
1980Born hereGareth Reynolds is born here

By decade

Brown Deer, decade by decade

Today1 recent

2023WITI Studios

On the National Register

1 historic place in Brown Deer

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

place listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

1993

Brown Deer School

Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Greek Revival1

Brown Deer SchoolGreek Revival · Built 1884

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

People over time

Brown Deer, census by census

Between 11,280 and 12,921 people in every census since 1960.

7 censuses, 1960–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Brown Deer’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and burying grounds

Brown Deer had its own post office from 1885 to 1903.

Brown Deer

1885–1903

18801950today

1cemetery inside Brown Deer

Saint Michaels

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). 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.

River Hills1 historic placeB⁺Milwaukee212 historic placesA⁺

Questions about Brown Deer’s history

What year was Brown Deer founded?

The Brown Deer post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Brown Deer rank for history?

Brown Deer is more historic than 35% of U.S. towns, #265 of 362 in Wisconsin. 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.

What is on the National Register in Brown Deer?

One place: the Brown Deer School (listed 1993).

How old are the homes in Brown Deer?

5% of Brown Deer’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.9 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1969.

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 (1), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.

Post to Brown Deer

Check your email