Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 47% of U.S. towns · #221 of 362 in Wisconsin. What drives it
Most of Dunn was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1978. Below: maps from 1889 on and old-book passages.
The Dunn post office opened in 1849, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Rockside (1857), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 47% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Dunn is more historic than 47% of U.S. towns, #221 of 362 in Wisconsin. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Dunn’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.
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 Dunn’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Dunn. 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 Dunn.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Dunn yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Dunn is a town in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 4,880 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1849. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 4,931 in 2010, 4,880 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Dunn, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The territory included within the present limits of the town of Dunn is Township 6 north, of Range 10 east, of the United States survey. This township was one of the three which originally constituted the town of Rome. By an act of the Territorial Legislature, approved March 11, 1848, Rome became extinct, and its territory was erected into a separate town, called Dunn.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
In three or four years after the first settlement, the inhabitants seemed to be quite numerous, and in 1848 there were about twenty-five families settled in what is now the town of Dunn. Wetherby having accura* ulated property, emigrated in 1858 to California. Dr. Pritchard practiced as a homoeopathic physician with great success, and gained the respect and esteem of the whole country, and against the real wishes of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A large number of the settlers are Norwegians. The town of Dunn was so named by mistake. The inhabitants petitioned to have it called Door, but the Town Clerk mistook the word and called it Dunn. The early settlers were A. Weatherby, A. Whitcomb, E. Root, William: Root, H. Prichard, William Calladay and O. B. Moore. The town was organized in 1848. There are eight schools and one church. Indian relics abound on almost every hill. Mounds, in the shape ot animals,, birds and fishes are numerous.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Co., Vt., born in the town of Cornwall in 1832. His parents, Solomon and Rhoda Turner, removed with him to Washington Co., N. Y.,when he was about 12 years old; here he spent most of his time at clerking in a grocery store till 1855 ; in the autumn of that year, he came to Wisconsin, and joined his father's family in the town of Dunn, Dane Co., they having come a few months before ; he spent about two years on the farm, and then came to the village of Stoughton, and carried on the grocery and cigar trade for about ten years, after which he was employed as clerk and operator for the C, M. & St. P. R. R. Co. at Stoughton for ten years, and, in 1877, he resumed the grocery and cigar trade. Mr. Turner was Chairman of the Town Board of Dunkirk for two terms, before the village of Stoughton was organized, and
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Nobody well known was born in Dunn itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Dunn had its own post office from 1849 to 1850. Another post office, Rockside, 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 Dunn post office opened in 1849, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Dunn is more historic than 47% of U.S. towns, #221 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.
9% of Dunn’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.1 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1978.
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 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.
