Founding year: the first Calamus post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Calamus’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Calamus is more historic than 71% 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 Calamus’ overall grade.
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 Calamus’ 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 B− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.2 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 Calamus’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Calamus yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Calamus is a town in Dodge County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,043 at the 2020 census. The unincorporated community of South Beaver Dam is located in the town. The unincorporated community of Lost Lake is also located partially in the town.
Its first post office opened in 1849. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 1,048 in 2010, 1,043 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Calamus in 1880
Passages that mention Calamus, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The history of Dodge county, Wisconsin, containing ... its early settlement, growth ... an extensive and minute sketch of its cities ... war record, biographical sketches1880 · page 382Read the page →
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many of the boys returning home. The Citizen says that the trade in marriage certificates was getting brisk. An enterprising recruiting officer at Mayville, heads his poster, "Flee from the draft to come." The town of Trenton pays $200 and those liable to draft have added $50 more, in addition to Government bounty. The town of Calamus also votes $200. At a townmeeting in the town of Chester, the following resolution was passed unanimously : ^'■Resolved, That we, as citizens of the town of Chester, pledge ourselves without reserve that we will cheerfully comply with this necessary sacrifice (the test of the draft) to uphold the Constitution and laws of the land, and sustain the blessings of free government."
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The History of Dodge County, Wisconsin, containing a history of Dodge County, its early settlement, growth, development, resources, etc1880 · page 315Read the page →
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that of all other nationalities, predominating chiefly in the eastern portion. They are an industrious and saving people ; law-abiding and lovers of good and honest government. The town of Ashippun is chiefly settled by Scandinavians, while the Irish may be said to predominate in the towns of Elba, Portland and Shields. A large proportion of the town of Calamus is Welsh. The Americans are most numerous in the central portion of the county. DISTANCES.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The history of Dodge county, Wisconsin, containing ... its early settlement, growth ... an extensive and minute sketch of its cities ... war record, biographical sketches1880 · page 600Read the page →
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TABOR THURSTON, farmer. Sec. 7 ; P. 0. Beaver Dam ; is a son of Samuel and Sarah Thurston, now of the town of Calamus ; born in Rensselaer Co., N. Y., May 5, 1846 ; when he was about 1 year old, his parentemigrated to Wisconsin, and settled at Watertown for three years; in 1850, they removed to the town of Calamus, Dodge Co., and settled on a farm of 160 acres, where Tabor made his home till his marriage to Miss Margaret A., daughter of Evan and Elizabeth Evans, of Beaver Dam, in the spring of 1863, since which time he has lived in the town of Beaver Dam. In the fall of 1878, he bought a farm of eighty acres, forty in Section 7, town of Beaver Dam, and forty in Section 12, town of Calamus, which is now his home ; they have three children — Frankie, William, and an infant not named ;
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The History of Dodge County, Wisconsin, containing a history of Dodge County, its early settlement, growth, development, resources, etc1880 · page 382Read the page →
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February — The town of Rubicon voted $200 in addition to the Government bounty for volunteers. The town of Calamus did likewise. Ditto Trenton. March — The Ninth School District of the town of Beaver Dam, claims to be the banner town district in this county, having furnished twenty-two men for Uncle Sam's army. The veterans of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Wisconsin Regiments home on a furlough.
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.
The Calamus post office opened in 1849, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Calamus rank for history?
Calamus is more historic than 71% 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 Calamus?
30% of Calamus’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.2 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1981.
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), 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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