Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 18 buildings. Below: maps from 1893 on and the census since 1880.
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 Darien’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Darien. 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 Darien.
Another post office, Allens Grove, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Darien yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Darien ( or ) is a village in Walworth County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,573 at the 2020 census. The village is located within the Town of Darien.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,693 to 1,651 (-2%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Darien, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The village of Darien is located on Section 27 of the town of Darien, on the South- Western Division of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, which enters the town on Section 24 and passes out on Section 31. The village was first settled by John Bruce, in 1837, who pm-- chased all the land where the village now is, and erected a small house, which afterward became a hotel. James Dilley and John B. Cook were subsequent settlers of the village. In July, 1856, the village was platted by Hemy Frey, Hiram A. Stone and Edgar Topping, proprietors, since which time additions have been made by these gentlemen and John Bruce.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A postoffice had been established there in 1839. A hamlet grew slowly about these buildings until 1856, in which year Mr. Frey, Hiram A. Stone and Edward Topping platted the village of Darien, through the middle of which the railway came that year from Racine and onward to Beloit. The new station at once became an important point for shipping the abundant grain crops of Darien and other towns, and as busy a distributing point for the trade in pine lumber. Less grain than then is now raised and forwarded.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The town of Walworth (with Sharon) was set off in 1839, and the town of Darien early in the next year, leaving the name Delavan to town 2 north, range 16 east. One more dismemberment, February 2, 1846, gave section 1 to the new town of Elkhorn. Of seven measurements recorded by the state topographers the highest and lowest points were respectively nine hundred and sixty-eight ami nine hundred and five feet above sea-level.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Jerusalem. N. Y., June 16, 1824; is the son of Stephen and Betsey Babcock; when 3 years of age, moved with his parents to Wayne County, where he was brought up on a fanu. In 1846, he came to Wisconsin, arriving in Delavan in July of that year. He remained in that place only a short time, when he moved to the town of Darien and engaged in farming; three years later, 1859, he returned to Delavan, where he was engaged in the nursery, grocery and other business, still retaining his farm in Darien till 1875, when he sold out. He was elected Justice of the Peace and sei-ved two years; was reelected, and resigned to accept the office of Sheriff of Walworth County, to which he was elected for the term of 1879-80. On the expiration of his
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.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 354 and 1,580 people in every census since 1880.
9 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Darien’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
One place: the Downtown Darien Historic District (listed 2013).
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 Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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 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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