The story
Read it all →How Edgar came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Edgar.
Edgar was platted in 1891 by the railroad. It was named for William Edgar, a local landowner and owner of a sawmill.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
BHistory
History · Edgar
Edgar’s post office opened in 1891, and 16% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 55% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Edgar Village Hall. Below: maps from 1902 on and the census since 1900.
1891first post office
1on the National Register
16%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Quick answers
How Edgar began, and where its name came from
When was Edgar founded?
1891
The Edgar post office opened in 1891, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 478 in 19002020 census: 1,439135 years
How did Edgar get its name?
Edgar was named for William Edgar, a local landowner and owner of a sawmill.
How historic is Edgar?
B
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 55% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Edgar post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Edgar’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Edgar is more historic than 55% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Edgar’s overall grade.
Founding era1891, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194015.6% of homes (±3.2) · typical WI town 12.1% · U.S. 8.4%BNational Register1 listing, 7.1 per 10,000 residents · typical WI town 3.0 · U.S. 2.4B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 55%
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 Edgar’s 7.1 sits above most of its state (70% 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 B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.2 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 Edgar’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 Edgar’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Edgar’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
Edgar on the map, 1902 to 1981
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Edgar. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1902Marathon sheet · 1:125,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Edgar.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Edgar in 1913
Passages that mention Edgar, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Marathon County, Wisconsin1913 · page 553Read the page →
Read the text
There are two German Evangelical Lutheran churches in the town, both on the extreme west, which give the people of the town of Frankfort a chance to attend and become members of the congregation, the eastern portion attending divine service in the village of Edgar. In the early years of the settlement Rev. J. J. Hoffmann, and after him Rev. William Hudtloff, visited the congregation monthly and held service in the schoolhouses, while the few Catholic pioneers attended service in Marathon City, they being near the east side of the township.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Marathon County, Wisconsin1913 · page 504Read the page →
Read the text
Edgar has a telephone company, duly incorporated, with C. C. Barrett as president and William Bier as manager, with seventy-five telephones, which with their connections in Edgar, Cassel, and Emmet, gives its patrons one hundred and ninety telephones ; besides which it has connections with six other circuits in Marathon county. Its telephone station opens at 7 A. M. and closes at 10 P. M., and night calls are promptly answered.
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
Edgar, 1891 to 1915
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1891Post officeThe Edgar post office opens
- 20th century
- 1902
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 1915
Born hereWoodrow Swancutt is born here
By decade
Edgar, decade by decade
Today2 recent
2019
2004On the National Register
1 historic place in Edgar
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
2000
Edgar Village Hall
Buildings
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Edgar, census by census
Between 478 and 1,479 people in every census since 1900.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Edgar’s Wikipedia page.
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Edgar’s history
What year was Edgar founded?
The Edgar post office opened in 1891, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Edgar rank for history?
Edgar is more historic than 55% 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 Edgar?
One place: the Edgar Village Hall (listed 2000).
How old are the homes in Edgar?
16% of Edgar’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.2 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1983.
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 (2), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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 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.