The story
Read it all →How Clarno came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Clarno.
The town was named after early settler Andrew Clarno, who founded a farm there in 1829.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
C+History
History · Clarno
Clarno’s post office opened in 1855, and 23% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 43% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1920 on and old-book passages.
1855first post office
0on the National Register
23%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Quick answers
How Clarno began
When was Clarno founded?
1855
The Clarno post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name.
2020 census: 1,133171 years
How historic is Clarno?
C+
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 43% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Clarno post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Clarno’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Clarno is more historic than 43% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Clarno’s overall grade.
Founding era1855, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194022.8% of homes (±5.3) · typical WI town 12.1% · U.S. 8.4%B+National RegisterNo listings counted · typical WI town 3.0 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 43%
NewerOlder
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 Clarno’s 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 C− to B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.3 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 Clarno’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Clarno’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Clarno’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.On the map
Clarno on the map, 1920 to 1982
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Clarno. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1920Monroe sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Clarno.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Clarno in 1877
Passages that mention Clarno, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Green County, Wisconsin1877 · page 80Read the page →
Read the text
In 1835, Joseph Paine, having removed from Clarno, began to farm where the village of Monroe is now. About the same time, Jarvis Rattan, an Illinoisan who had been for many years a miner, built the second house in the village, and Julius Austin settled just west of the village — his brother, Elijah Austin, who came with him from Illinois, settling in Clarno. Jacob Andrick came the same year from Ohio, and made a farm in that part of
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
Clarno, 1855 to 1959
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1855Post officeThe Clarno post office opens
- 1873Post officeThe Clarno post office closes
- 1875Born hereStephen Conrad Stuntz is born here
- 1887Post officeThe Clarno post office opens
- 20th century
- 1920
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 1959Post officeThe Clarno post office closes
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.
Add from your albumPlaces that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds
Clarno had its own post office from 1855 to 1873. Another post office, Clarno, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Clarno
Clarno
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Schneyville
1cemetery inside Clarno
Bethel
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.
Questions about Clarno’s history
What year was Clarno founded?
The Clarno post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Clarno rank for history?
Clarno is more historic than 43% 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 Clarno?
23% of Clarno’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.3 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1982.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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).
From Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.