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–Not graded
History · Cary

13% of Cary’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1985 on.

0on the National Register
13%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Cary’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 Cary are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Cary’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cary’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
The story

How Cary came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Cary.

Read it all →

In the summer of 1851 a crew working for the U.S. government surveyed the outline of the six mile square that would become Cary. That December another crew marked all the section corners, walking through the woods and wading the swamps, measuring with chain and compass. When done, the deputy surveyor filed this general description:

The surface of this Township is generally level. Except in the Northern Part which is somewhat Rolling. There is considerable sandstone in the Northern Part. the soil is generally 2d rate Although in the North Eastern Part there is some good farming Land; the timber is mostly sugar Oak Linn Tamarack & Pine. Alders in the swamps the streams are fed by the swamps and are not durable during times of drowth.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Cary, 1880 to 1985

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1880Post officeThe Carey post office opens
  3. 1881Post officeThe Carey post office closes
  4. 20th century
  5. 1985On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Cary on the map in 1985

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cary.

Cary on the 1985 USGS map1985Black River Falls sheet · 1:100,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Cary.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Another post office, Carey, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Gone or out of use
Cary Bluff SchoolschoolRocky Run SchoolschoolSmith Quarrymine

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.

WoodIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townRockIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHilesIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSherwoodIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Cary’s history

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.