Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 28% of U.S. towns · #304 of 362 in Wisconsin. What drives it
Most of Combined Locks was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1955 on, and the census since 1930.
The Combined Locks post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 28% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Combined Locks is more historic than 28% of U.S. towns, #304 of 362 in Wisconsin. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Combined Locks’ 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.
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 →
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 Combined Locks’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Combined Locks.
A post office called Combined Locks has been in operation since 1892. The village was named from the canal locks near the town site. It was founded in 1920.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveCombined locks, boat canal, Wis
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1880s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Combined Locks. 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 Combined Locks.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Combined Locks’ page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 545 people in 1930 to 3,634 in 2020, 6 times over.
10 censuses, 1930–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Combined Locks’ Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Combined Locks itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Combined Locks post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Combined Locks is more historic than 28% of U.S. towns, #304 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.
9% of Combined Locks’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.6 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 Library of Congress (2), Wikipedia, 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.
1880
