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History · Cold Spring

Cold Spring’s post office opened in 1844, and 26% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1891 on.

1844first post office
0on the National Register
26%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Cold Spring began

When was Cold Spring founded?

1844

The Cold Spring post office opened in 1844, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 737182 years
Founding year: the first Cold Spring post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Cold Spring’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 Cold Spring are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18914 editions of the USGS map, 1891 to 1971. Watch Cold Spring change.Deep rootsA post office since 1844: 182 years of Cold Spring.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Cold Spring’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Cold Spring on the map, 1891 to 1971

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

Cold Spring on the 1891 USGS mapCold Spring on the 1906 USGS mapCold Spring on the 1961 USGS mapCold Spring on the 1971 USGS map1891Koshkonong 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 Cold Spring.

Timeline

Cold Spring, 1844 to 2004

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1844Post officeThe Cold Spring post office opens
  3. 1891On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 20th century
  5. 1902Post officeThe Cold Spring post office closes
  6. 21st century
  7. 2004Born hereReese Brantmeier is born here
The story so far

Cold Spring, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Cold Spring yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Cold Spring is a town in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 737 as of the 2020 census.

Its first post office opened in 1844. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 727 in 2010, 737 in 2020.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

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 album
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and burying grounds

Cold Spring had its own post office from 1844 to 1902.

Cold Spring
1844–1902
18401930today
1cemetery inside Cold Spring
Cold Spring Union

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.

Hebron1 historic placeB+Whitewater6 historic placesA−Koshkonong2 historic placesB+Palmyra1 historic placeA−

Questions about Cold Spring’s history

What year was Cold Spring founded?

The Cold Spring post office opened in 1844, 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 →
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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.