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StonefieldStonefield · Photo: Tgkrause · CC BY-SA 3.0
–Not graded
History · Cassville

20% of Cassville’s homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Stonefield. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1894 on, and the census since 1870.

1on the National Register
20%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Cassville’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

Where Cassville’s name came from

How did Cassville get its name?

The village was named after Lewis Cass, the governor of Michigan Territory from 1813 to 1831.

More on the name

The name has been used by the community since at least 1828, when the post office was established by Allen Hill.

Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓

What stands out about Cassville’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,343 in 1970; 777 people lived here in 2020.Mapped building by building3 fire insurance maps, 1894 to 1912, drew every building in Cassville.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Cassville’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cassville’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewCassville in 1829: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Cassville, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,40018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,343

Peaked at 1,343 in 1970; 777 people lived here in 2020.

16 censuses, 1870–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Cassville’s Wikipedia page.

Every building

Cassville, building by building, 1894–1912

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.

Cassville fire insurance map, 1894, sheet 11894Sheet 1 of 2
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

The story

How Cassville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Cassville.

Read it all →

The site of Cassville was occupied by the Meskwaki people before European settlement. In 1820, Henry Schoolcraft observed a Meskwaki village consisting of twelve substantial log lodges and cultivated fields in the locality.

The Euro-American settlement of Cassville began in 1827, when Judge John Sawyer of Illinois established a smelting furnace to serve lead miners who were expanding northward from Galena, Illinois. The town attracted sixty to seventy people in its first year. By the early 1830s, Cassville held several log cabins, a tavern, a general store, and a blockhouse constructed during the Black Hawk War.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Cassville in 1900

Passages that mention Cassville, cut from the printed page as they were published.

The first school was taught at Cassville in 1834 by Miss Maria Barber, afterward the wife of Alexander D. Ramsey. In 1835 Miss Barber taught at a point about half way between the village and the McCartney settlement to accommodate both settlements. At this school one of the girls, Elizabeth Walker,…
History of Grant County Wisconsin1900 · page 610Read the page →
Read the text

The first school was taught at Cassville in 1834 by Miss Maria Barber, afterward the wife of Alexander D. Ramsey. In 1835 Miss Barber taught at a point about half way between the village and the McCartney settlement to accommodate both settlements. At this school one of the girls, Elizabeth Walker, dropped her thimble through a crack in the floor and reached her hand down to get it (the puncheon floor presenting rather capacious cracks) when a large yellow rattle¬ snake bit her on the hand. R. Shipley came along on horseback just

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.

Timeline

Cassville, 1854 to 1970

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1854In the archiveCassville in 1829
  3. 1867Born hereFerdinand August Geiger is born here
  4. 1868BuiltStonefield is built
  5. 20th century
  6. 1900On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1970CensusPopulation peaks at 1,343
By decade

Cassville, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1850s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1850s1 item
Cassville in 18291854Cassville in 1829
Today6 recent
Cassville, Wisconsin2024Cassville, WisconsinRiverside Park Cassville, Wisconsin 22021Riverside Park Cassville, Wisconsin 2Cassville, WI post office2018Cassville, WI post officeCassville Ferry on the Iowa side2018Cassville Ferry on the Iowa sideMapHighlightingTownOfCassvilleGrantCtWI2013MapHighlightingTownOfCassvilleGrantCtWIWIMap-doton-Cassville2004WIMap-doton-Cassville
On the map

Cassville on the map, 1900 to 1984

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cassville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Cassville on the 1900 USGS mapCassville on the 1984 USGS map1900Lancaster sheet · 1:125,000

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

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Cassville in 1829
Retake this viewCassville in 1829, 1854

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Cassville’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Cassville

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
4
each building in a district counts
first listed
1970
Stonefield
Stonefield, built 1868
Sites

Architectural styles listings

Gothic Revival1
StonefieldGothic Revival · Built 1868

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Gone or out of use
Adrain SchoolschoolGroom SchoolschoolPeoples Schoolschool
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Cassville
CassvilleSaint CharlesSaint Marys

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.

WaterlooIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGlen HavenIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBeetownIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Cassville’s history

What is on the National Register in Cassville?

One place: the Stonefield (listed 1970).

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
Start a conversation
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 Wikimedia Commons (7), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.