Clintonville’s post office opened in 1857, and 41% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 77% of U.S. towns · #100 of 362 in Wisconsin. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Clintonville Post Office, the Clintonville High School and the Clintonville Federal Savings and Loan Association. Below: 10 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1880.
Founding year: the first Clintonville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Clintonville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Clintonville is more historic than 77% of U.S. towns, #100 of 362 in Wisconsin. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Clintonville’s overall grade.
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 Clintonville’s 6.6 sits above most of its state (69% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.9 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 Clintonville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
Clintonville lies within ancestral Menominee territory. In the Menominee language, it is known as Omīniahkan, "place where pigeons are hunted". It was ceded to the United States by the Menominee in 1836 through the Treaty of the Cedars, an agreement to sell over four million acres to the United States as part of the negotiations about how to accommodate the Oneida, Stockbridge-Munsee, and Brothertown peoples who were being removed from New York to Wisconsin. After this, the area around Clintonville became available for purchase by white American settlers.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Waupaca county, Wisconsin1890 · page 79Read the page →
Read the text
In 1879, Supervisor Ratcliif oifered the following resolution : ''Whereas, The Village of Clintonville incurred considerable indebtedness in perfecting its organization under the General Statutes ; and ' ' Whereas, Such indebtedness has been increased by the erection of a pound and lock-up ; and "Whereas, The radical inability of the inhabi-
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
Clintonville, 1857 to 1988
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
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.
The Clintonville post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Clintonville rank for history?
Clintonville is more historic than 77% of U.S. towns, #100 of 362 in Wisconsin. 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.
What is on the National Register in Clintonville?
Three places: the Clintonville Post Office (listed 2000), the Clintonville High School (2018) and the Clintonville Federal Savings and Loan Association (2025).
How old are the homes in Clintonville?
41% of Clintonville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.9 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1951.
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 Wikimedia Commons (4), the Library of Congress (6), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), 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.
1910
1910
1911
1911
1911
1919
1988