Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 29% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1972 on, and the census since 1860.
Buffalo City dates its founding to 1859 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1860.
More historic than 29% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Buffalo City is more historic than 29% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Buffalo City’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.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 →
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 Buffalo City’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Buffalo City.
The name may be derived from a buffalo animal husbandry operation in the past. The city was chartered in 1859. At that time it was the only city in Buffalo County.
The town may have been named for three brothers who raised buffalo on a bluff overlooking the city.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Buffalo City, cut from the printed page as they were published.
from which Mr. Sehaettle after a while retired. The business now belongs to Mr. Lane alone, and he is still working the engine that was brought to Buffalo City in 1858. — Before any extensive settlement was made at and around Alma, somebody had started up a sawmill above town, but I do not remember its operation, though I have seen trace of a log-carriage upon the place. In 1870 the property passed into the hands of John Bretthauer and Fred Fisher, whobuilt a sawmill on the spot. This afterwards passed
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
In 1858 the Colonization Society of Cincinnati, which had laid out Buffalo City, built at that place, a sawmill, to which a gristmill was also attached. The arrangement being faulty, the supply of logs precarious, and the expectations of the residents and the members of the Colonization Society somewhat disappointed, this mill was abandoned after the mill of Bueker & Co.
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.
In the archiveMap of Buffalo City, Wisconsin
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1850s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Buffalo City. 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 Buffalo City.
Between 184 and 1,040 people in every census since 1860.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Buffalo City’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Buffalo City itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Buffalo, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1859, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Buffalo City’s post office opened in 1858, and the census of 1860 counted 184 people here.
Buffalo City is more historic than 29% 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.
10% of Buffalo City’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.9 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1975.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
