Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 88% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Apfel, George, Round Barn. Below: maps from 1926 on and old-book passages.
More historic than 88% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Clinton is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
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 Clinton’s 8.9 sits above most of its state (75% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Clinton’s history is told.
Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia’s history of Clinton.
The town was originally named "Masterson". It was created in March 1857 from the eastern half of the town of Christiana. The name was changed to "Clinton" in the fall of that year, in honor of New York Governor DeWitt Clinton.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Clinton, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Clinton was set off from the town of Christiana, in 1856. The first election was held in the village of Boomingdale, when the following named were elected as town officers: C. H. Hunt, (chairman) T. J. Seaman, and B. F. Vanduzee, supervisors; Dr. Amos Carpenter, town clerk; P. C. Taylor, treasurer. These are the only officers wiiose names appear on the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The first house built in the town of Clinton was erected on section .31, on the present plat of Bloomingdale. It was built by Ingebret Bjorseth, in 1851. Here the first school in tlu town was taught in the summer of 1857 b_\ Mrs. Sarah Roy.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Clinton. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Clinton.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Clinton is more historic than 88% 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.
One place: the Apfel, George, Round Barn (listed 2006).
32% of Clinton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.5 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1978.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.
