Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 92% of U.S. towns · #34 of 362 in Wisconsin. What drives it
7 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 37 buildings between them. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1860.
The Delavan post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Turtle Creek (1839), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 92% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Delavan is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #34 of 362 in Wisconsin. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age lowest.
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 Delavan’s 47.2 sits above most of its state (88% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 41 historic buildings outnumber those of 84% 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 Delavan’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Delavan. 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 Delavan.
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.
1885Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Delavan.
Delavan sits in the middle of what was once an inland sea. During the last ice age, the final glaciation, named the Michigan tongue, covered this region. The Michigan tongue descended along the area of Lake Michigan. The "Delavan lobe" of this glacier broke off, pushing southwest into the area of Walworth County.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Delavan, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The second charitable institution incorporated by the State was the " Wisconsin Institute for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb." It was originally a private school for deaf mutes, near, and subsequently in, the village of Delavan, Walworth county. By an act of the legislature approved April 19, 1852, it was made the object and duty of the corporation to establish, continue and maintain this school for the education of the deaf and dumb, "at or near the village of Delavan, to qualify, as near as might be, that unfortunate class of persons for the enjoyment of the blessings of a free government, obtaining the means of subsistence, and the discharge of those duties, social and political, devolving upon American citizens." It has since been sup-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
embraced but a single section of the original town, viz.. Section 36, in Town 3, Range 16. By that act, the present town of Elkhorn was established. The boundaries were described as follows: "All that part of the county of Walworth comprised in Section 36, in the town of Elkhorn; Section 1, in the town of Delavan: Section 6, in the town of Geneva, and Section 31, in the town of La Fayette, is hereby set off and organized into a separate town by the name of Elkhorn," and except Section 36, the remaining part of Elkhorn was organized as a new town under the name of Sugar Creek. The town of Elkhorn, as organized by the act of Februaiy 2, 1846, is a square of two miles, embraces the geographical center of the county, and is the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Township i north, range 16 east, was a part of the town of Delavan until February 28. 1839, when it was set off and named for the county. It then for four years included Sharon. Next southward are the towns of Alden and Chemung, in Illinois. The ground is generally high, much like that of Sharon. At the observatory it is one thousand fifty feet above sealevel, and nearly as high for a considerable area about that institution. At the railway station, village of Walworth, the height is one thousand four feet. The lowest point is a short' and narrow area at the end of Geneva lake,
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.
BuiltStowell, Israel, Temperance House is built
Born hereAlice E. Bartlett is born here
BuiltA. H. Allyn House is built
In the archiveDelavan, Walworth Co., Wisconsin 1884
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereFrank B. James is born here
BuiltDelavan's Vitrified Brick Street is built
BuiltDelavan Post Office is built
Born hereKenneth Goff is born here
In the archiveGerman apple pancakes at Millie's Restaurant2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2013Aram Public Library
2012Saint Andrew Catholic Church
2012Israel Stowell Temperance House 61-65 E Walworth
2012Drinking fountain 0051
2012Delavan-Darien High School
2012Clown and Elephant Statue
2012Christ Episcopal Church
2009Walgreens
200919th Century Circus Capital Of The Nations
2008Lake Lawn Resort Delavan Tower
2005WIMap-doton-DelavanNo 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 Delavan’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Grew from 1,549 people in 1860 to 8,505 in 2020, 5 times over.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Delavan’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Delavan’s post office has been open since 1837. Another post office, Turtle Creek, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Delavan post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Delavan is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #34 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.
7 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Stowell, Israel, Temperance House (listed 1978, the first), 2 historic districts, the Delavan Downtown Commercial Historic District and the Delavan Water Tower Park Historic District, with 37 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 41 historic buildings in all.
24% of Delavan’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.8 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1968.
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 Wikimedia Commons (12), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (5), the National Register of Historic Places (7), 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.
