Founding year: the first Colby post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Colby’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Colby is more historic than 34% 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 Colby’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 Colby’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 C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.1 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 Colby’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
When the Wisconsin Central Railroad was building its line through the wilderness heading toward Lake Superior, it finished its 1872 construction season with rails completed to the site of today's Colby. The place was initially called "Section 53," but the railroad renamed the station in honor of Charles L. Colby, partner in the construction company that was building the railroad, and the son of the railroad's financier Gardner L. Colby.
As early as 1962, the area was home to Colby-Abbotsford Airport, a private facility with a 2600 ft runway running northeast–southwest and the remnants of a shorter northwest–southeast runway. The airport remained in operation as late as 1988, but has since been abandoned.
The Colby post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Colby rank for history?
Colby is more historic than 34% 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 Colby?
14% of Colby’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.1 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1974.
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 (12), 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) 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.
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