Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 42% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1894 on, and the census since 1880.
The Cadott post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 42% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cadott is more historic than 42% 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 Cadott’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: 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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost two-thirds of its people between 1890 and 1950, then grew 5-fold.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Cadott’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Cadott.
In the late 1700s or early 1800s Jean Baptiste Cadotte, son of French Canadian fur trader Michel Cadotte of the Madeline Island area, established a trading post on the Yellow River near modern Cadott.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveCaldwell
In the archiveCadott, Wis
In the archiveFire department
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey3 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cadott. 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 Cadott.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1894Sheet 1 of 3Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Cadott’s page.
Retake this view · +15Nobody well known was born in Cadott itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Cadott post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Cadott is more historic than 42% 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.
22% of Cadott’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.7 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1974.
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 (8), the Library of Congress (3), 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 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1912
1939
Date?
2024
2024
2024
2024
2015