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History · Cecil

Cecil’s post office opened in 1884, and 23% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1956 on, and the census since 1910.

1884first post office
0on the National Register
23%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Cecil’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Cecil began

When was Cecil founded?

1884

The Cecil post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Upham (1873), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 351 in 19102020 census: 529142 years
Founding year: the first Cecil post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Cecil’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.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Cecil’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewSunset on Shawano Lake: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Cecil came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Cecil.

Read it all →

The village was named after a railroad man, Cecil Leavitt when the railroad was finished in 1884.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Cecil, 1873 to 1956

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1873Post officeThe Upham post office opens
  3. 1882Post officeThe Upham post office closes
  4. 1884Post officeThe Cecil post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1910In the archiveSunset on Shawano Lake
  7. 1956On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Cecil, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s1 item
Sunset on Shawano Lake1910Sunset on Shawano Lake
1920s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today6 recent
Cecil Wisconsin sign2022Cecil Wisconsin signCecilWisconsinVillageSign2009CecilWisconsinVillageSignCecilWisconsinSign2007CecilWisconsinSignCecilWisconsin2007CecilWisconsinMobilSignHistoric2006MobilSignHistoricCecil Wisconsin2006Cecil Wisconsin
On the map

Cecil on the map, 1956 to 1984

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

Cecil on the 1956 USGS mapCecil on the 1974 USGS mapCecil on the 1984 USGS map1956Gillett sheet · 1:62,500

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

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.

Sunset on Shawano Lake
Retake this viewSunset on Shawano Lake, 1910

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Cecil, census by census

0100200300400500600192019401960198020002020Peak: 570

Between 351 and 570 people in every census since 1910.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Cecil

Nobody well known was born in Cecil itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Deedra IrwinAmerican biathlete · b. 1992
Ada DeerNative American activist, scholar, and civil se… · b. 1935
S
Sheila TouseyAmerican actress · b. 1960
B
Billy ReedMajor League Baseball secondbaseman · b. 1922
L
Lee RemmelSportswriter, Green Bay Packers Public Relation… · b. 1924
M
Marcus OliveiraAmerican boxer · b. 1979
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and burying grounds

Cecil’s post office has been open since 1884. Another post office, Upham, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Upham
1873–1882
Cecil
1884–today
18701950today
1cemetery inside Cecil
Saint Martins

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Cecil’s history

What year was Cecil founded?

The Cecil post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 (6), the Library of Congress (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.