Most of Crivitz was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1970. Below: maps from 1973 on and the census since 1980.
Founding year: the first Crivitz post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Crivitz’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Crivitz is more historic than 24% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Crivitz’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 Crivitz’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 (±4.2 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 Crivitz’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Crivitz was surveyed and platted in the summer of 1883. This work was filed with the Register of Deeds in Marinette County on September 10, 1883, by German immigrant Frederick John Bartels, who named the settlement after his home town of Crivitz, Germany.
The demographic character of the Crivitz area was shaped significantly after a typhoid epidemic in 1894, which shut down the sawmills. Hieronymus Zech (1849–1932), a mill operator from Chilton, took over operation of the inactive mills and promoted land sales to Polish immigrants, many of whom relocated from Milwaukee and Chicago. Zech built stores, houses, schools, and roads for the Polish colony. As a result, the local population today is predominantly Polish-American.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Crivitz.
People over time
Crivitz, census by census
Between 984 and 1,093 people in every census since 1980.
5 censuses, 1980–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Crivitz’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about Crivitz’s history
What year was Crivitz founded?
The Crivitz post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Crivitz rank for history?
Crivitz is more historic than 24% 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 Crivitz?
6% of Crivitz’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.2 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1970.
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 (5), 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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