Its Register listings are the Cumberland Public Library and the St. Mary's Rectory. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1893 on, and the census since 1880.
Founding year: the first Cumberland post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Cumberland’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cumberland is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Cumberland’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 Cumberland’s 8.8 sits above most of its state (74% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.9 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 Cumberland’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
Cumberland is often called the "Island City". The main part of the city, including the original settlement, is on land surrounded by Beaver Dam Lake, originally settled by the Ojibwe, whose name for it is Che-wa-cum-ma-towangok ("Lake Made by the Beavers"). Ojibwe Chief Pon-gee Rau-gen ("Little Pipe") lived in the area even after it was settled by European settlers, and drowned in a canoe on Beaver Dam Lake in 1895.
Passages that mention Cumberland, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Barron County Wisconsin1922 · page 1054Read the page →
Read the text
Cumberland Township embraces Township 35, Range 13. The name as ap¬ plied to the present Township dates from Jan. 1, 1880, when the board or¬ dered that the old town of Lakeland, created Dec. 30, 1875, would henceforth be known as the town of Cumberland. Later another Lakeland Township was created. The first officers are given under the head of Lakeland. The present officers are: Supervisors, John Hellstrom (chairman), Anton Erickson and Ole Jacobson; treasurer, James Carlson; clerk, Grover Jacobson; assessor, R. B.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Barron County Wisconsin1922 · page 1021Read the page →
Read the text
“Three new buildings have been added during the year; one in the town of Maple Grove, costing $539 ; another in the town of Cumberland, costing $660 ; and a third in the town of Turtle Lake, costing $767.95. “There are now in the county 110 districts, the number of departments being 132. There are 133 teachers, the extra one being the assistant principal at Cumberland.
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.
Timeline
Cumberland, 1875 to 1956
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Cumberland post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Cumberland rank for history?
Cumberland is more historic than 67% 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.
What is on the National Register in Cumberland?
Two places: the Cumberland Public Library (listed 1992) and the St. Mary's Rectory (2011).
How old are the homes in Cumberland?
24% of Cumberland’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.9 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1976.
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 (10), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
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