The story
Read it all →How Delton came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Delton.
The town of New Buffalo was created on January 8, 1850. The name was changed to Delton on November 17, 1871.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
C+History
History · Delton
Delton’s post office opened in 1851, and 1 of its places is on the National Register
More historic than 38% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Delton was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1993. Its Register listing is the Seth Peterson Cottage. Below: maps from 1901 on.
1851first post office
1on the National Register
6%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Delton began
When was Delton founded?
1851
The Delton post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Webster's Prairie (1869) and Mirror Lake (1926), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 2,460175 years
How historic is Delton?
C+
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 38% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Delton post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Delton’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Delton is more historic than 38% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Delton’s overall grade.
Founding era1851, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19406.0% of homes (±4.3) · typical WI town 12.1% · U.S. 8.4%CNational Register1 listing, 3.7 per 10,000 residents · typical WI town 3.0 · U.S. 2.4B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 38%
NewerOlder
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 Delton’s 3.7 sits near the middle of its state (63% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 (±4.3 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 Delton’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Delton’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Delton’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.On the map
Delton on the map, 1901 to 1975
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Delton. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1901The Dells sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Delton.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds
Delton had its own post office from 1851 to 1926. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Delton
Webster's Prairie
Mirror Lake
18501940today
Gone or out of use
Lower Dells SchoolschoolMirror Lake SchoolschoolWebster Prairie Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Delton
Webster Prairie
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Timeline
Delton, 1851 to 1958
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1851Post officeThe Delton post office opens
- 1869Post officeThe Webster's Prairie post office opens
- 1869Post officeThe Webster's Prairie post office closes
- 20th century
- 1901
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 1926Post officeThe Delton post office closes
- 1926Post officeThe Mirror Lake post office opens
- 1931Post officeThe Mirror Lake post office closes
- 1958
BuiltSeth Peterson Cottage is built
By decade
Delton, decade by decade
2016
2016
2016
2016
2016
2012
2010
2009
2007
2004On the National Register
1 historic place in Delton
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1981
Seth Peterson Cottage
Buildings
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Delton
Nobody well known was born in Delton itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
A
Alexander WetmoreAmerican ornithologist and avian paleontologist · b. 1886
S
Stuart PalmerAmerican writer · b. 1905Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Delton’s history
What year was Delton founded?
The Delton post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Delton rank for history?
Delton is more historic than 38% 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 Delton?
One place: the Seth Peterson Cottage (listed 1981).
How old are the homes in Delton?
6% of Delton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.3 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1993.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
Sources
Where this page comes from
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), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.