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History · Chili

Chili’s post office opened in 1892, and 59% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1954 on.

1892first post office
0on the National Register
59%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Chili began

When was Chili founded?

1892

The Chili post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 205134 years
Founding year: the first Chili post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Chili’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 Chili are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Chili’s homes were built before 1938.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Chili’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Chili came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Chili.

Read it all →

Around the year 1880 the Chicago and North Western Railway built through this area in south-east Clark County to take care of local sawmills. There was a sawmill about a mile east of where the railroad had put in a siding called Cedarhurst. Another such sawmill was built at the present-day CDP of Chili, and grew to be a rather extensive operation. One blistering, cold day during the winter of 1881, the railroad officials came here for the purpose of choosing a name for the then-hamlet. It was so wintry cold they did not want to step out of the train, it was then that one of them is supposed to have said, "Let's call this stop Chili because it is really chilly here." On another account, the community is also said to be named after the country Chile, in South America.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Chili, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Chili, Wisconsin2024Chili, WisconsinChili Wisconsin2017Chili Wisconsin
On the map

Chili on the map, 1954 to 1979

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

Chili on the 1954 USGS mapChili on the 1979 USGS map1954Granton 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 Chili.

Questions about Chili’s history

What year was Chili founded?

The Chili post office opened in 1892, 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 →
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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 Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikipedia and U.S. Geological Survey historical maps. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.