Founding year: the first Dellona post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Dellona’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Dellona is more historic than 22% 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 Dellona’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 Dellona’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 (±1.9 points) is firm at this size. 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 Dellona’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Dellona. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1901The Dells sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Dellona.
The story so far
Dellona, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Dellona yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Dellona is a town in Sauk County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,901 at the 2020 census. The unincorporated community of Dellwood is located in the town.
Its first post office opened in 1850. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 1,552 to 1,901 (+22%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Dellona, 1880–1918
Passages that mention Dellona, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources ... biographical sketches ..1880 · page 623Read the page →
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The territory now included in the town of Dellona originally belonged to the town of Baraboo, which also embraced the territory composing the towns of Lavalle and Winfield and the north half of Ironton, Reedsburg and Excelsior. In November, 1850, the north half of Township 12, Range 5, and the whole of Township 13, Range •">, was set off from the town of Baraboo and called Dellona. In January. 1857, the town of Excelsior was organized from the town of Freedom and that portion of the town of Dellona, lying south of the line between Townships 12 and 13. making the boundaries of the town of Dellona the same as at present.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, containing an account of settlement, growth, development and resources ... biographical sketches ... the whole preceded by a history of Wisconsin1880 · page 559Read the page →
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in what was then a black-alder swamp. In the eyes of strangers, this was regarded as a drawback to the growth of the village. The people coming from Baraboo and all the region east, as well as those coming from what is now the town of Winfield and the settlement in the town of Dellona, known as Sligo, were obliged, in order to get to the stores, the tavern and the sawmill, to travel along a ridge of hard land from near " Kelsey's Corner " to the rear part of what is now the Central House, and around to the north of the Mansion House into Main street, near Strong's store, now the saloon and eating-house of William Roper. Main street, from "Kelsey's Corner" to Nelson Carver's saloon, was an impassable swamp. A ditch had been dug on the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources ... biographical sketches ..1880 · page 561Read the page →
Read the text
in what was then a black-alder swamp. In the eyes of strangers, this was regarded as a drawback to the growth of the village. The people coining from Baraboo and all the region east, as well as those coming from what is now the town of Winfield and the settlement in the town of Dellona, known as Sligo, were obliged, in order to get to the stores, the tavern and the sawmill, to travel along a ridge of hard land from near " Kelsey's Corner " to the rear part of what is now the Central House, and around to the north of the Mansion House into Main street, near Strong's store, now the saloon and eating-house of William Roper. Main street, from "Kelsey's Corner" to Nelson Carver's saloon, was an impassable swamp. A ditch had been dug on the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A standard history of Sauk County, Wisconsin1918 · page 512Read the page →
Read the text
Called Village op Excelsior In December, 1857, the Town of Excelsior was formed from the towns of Freedom and Dellona, and the settlement at the Upper Narrows retained the name of the town until the Colonel's great ambition was realized in the building of the Chicago & North Western Railway to and through his village. In the fall or winter of 1871 a postoffice was established at the new station and very appropriately took the Colonel's family name.
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
Dellona, 1850 to 1901
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Dellona post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Dellona rank for history?
Dellona is more historic than 22% 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 Dellona?
5% of Dellona’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.9 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1998.
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 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.
