Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1957 on and old-book passages.
The Courtland post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 Courtland’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Courtland yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Courtland is a town in Columbia County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 491 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1851. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 525 to 491 (-6%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Courtland, cut from the printed page as they were published.
RAXSOJI H. MEAD, farmer. Sec. 29; P. 0. Columbia; was born Feb. 14, 1821, in Whitehall, Washington Co., N. Y.; came to Wisconsin in the fall of 1846, to see the aountry, and settle up the estate of his brother, Henry Mead, who died in August, 1845, which was the first death in the town of Courtland ; was here a few weeks and then returned to the East : in the fall of 1848, he again came to Wisconsin, and has resided in the town of Courtland ever since, and followed farming most of the time. Feb. 14, 1865. he enlisted in the 46th W. V. I., Co. D, and remained in the service till October of the same year. Was married, Feb. 14, 1850, in the town of Courtland, to Hannah Conklin, who was born Oct. 18, 1828, in the town of Conklin, Broome Co., N. Y., daughter of Samuel Conklin who came
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 Courtland. 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 Courtland.
Nobody well known was born in Courtland itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Courtland had its own post office from 1851 to 1857.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Courtland post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From 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.
