Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 29% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1970 on and old-book passages.
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, Byron 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 Byron’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: our sources. 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 Byron’s history is told.
Two other post offices 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).
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Byron yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Byron is a town in Monroe County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,234 at the 2020 census. The unincorporated communities of Shennington and Valley Junction are located in the town.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,342 to 1,234 (-8%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Byron, cut from the printed page as they were published.
uary 6, 1863, a petition having been presented by the inhabitants of the proposed town, a resolution was passed detaching township sixteen, range three west, from the town of Leon and creating it the town of Byron, and provided that the first election should be held at the house of Frederick Swartslow on the first Tuesday in April, 1863, which was accordingly done and the town organization perfected. Originally the town comprised the entire territory of what is now the town of Scott and Byron.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
This town was set off from Byron in 1880; its first settler was Andrew Scott, who came there in 1850, followed by William Dodge, who put up a saw mill. The principal settlement is at Norway Ridge, surrounding which are large cranberry marshes, which has been the principal industry of the town for many years.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.![This town was set off from Byron in 1880 ; its first settler was Andrew Scott, who came there in 1850, followed by William Dodge, who ])ut up a saw mill. The principal settlement is at Norway Ridge, surrounding Avhich are large cranberry marshes, which lias been the principal industry of the town f…](https://images.townratings.com/story/35518/bk-8532abaecf09047e-l.jpg)
This town was set off from Byron in 1880 ; its first settler was Andrew Scott, who came there in 1850, followed by William Dodge, who ])ut up a saw mill. The principal settlement is at Norway Ridge, surrounding Avhich are large cranberry marshes, which lias been the principal industry of the town for many years.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
county and was particularly severe in this town. The line of the storm was from Jackson county down tlirough a portion of the town of Lincoln, across the east side of LaGrange, through the southwest corner of Byron, and then midway through the town of Oakdale. The cyclone struck Oakdale near J. ('. Hill's farm and destroyed iMr. Hill's barns and other buildings, except his house. All of the buildings on the farms of Mr. ]Myers and Mr. Musser w'ere
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Byron. 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 Byron.
Nobody well known was born in Byron itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Byron 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 Byron’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.1 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1982.
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 (4), 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.
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