Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 77% of U.S. towns · #99 of 362 in Wisconsin. What drives it
7 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 27 buildings. Below: maps from 1884 on and the census since 1880.
The Edgerton post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 77% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Edgerton is more historic than 77% of U.S. towns, #99 of 362 in Wisconsin. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls 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 Edgerton’s 59.9 sits above most of its state (90% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 36 historic buildings outnumber those of 83% 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 Edgerton’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Edgerton. 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 Edgerton.
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.
1884Sheet 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 Edgerton.
Originally called Fulton Station, Edgerton was named after 19th-century businessman Elisha W. Edgerton, or his brother Benjamin Hyde Edgerton, a civil engineer.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
BuiltEdgerton Public Grade Schools is built
BuiltSterling North House is built
BuiltCharles L. Culton House is built
BuiltEdgerton Depot is built
Born hereSterling North is born here
Born hereSteve Stricker is born here
202020200920-DSCF7358
202020200920-DSCF7357
202020200920-DSCF7354
2015White Barn with a Silo - panoramio (4)
2015Walter John Kueng Estate
2015Sterling North House
2015Panorama of Rock County Farmland
2015North side of Fulton Street
2015Large White Barn with Three Silos
2015Lake Gibbs
2015Edgerton Depot
2015Dickinson Tobacco Warehouse
2015Charles L. Culton House
20151903 building, Edgerton Public Grade Schools
20151892 building, Edgerton Public Grade Schools
2013Edgerton Travel PlazaThe 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 869 people in 1880 to 5,945 in 2020, 6 times over.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Edgerton’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Edgerton’s post office has been open since 1854.
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 Edgerton post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Edgerton is more historic than 77% of U.S. towns, #99 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: 6 buildings, among them the Charles L. Culton House (listed 1977, the first), and 1 historic district, the Fulton Street Historic District, with 27 contributing buildings. 36 historic buildings in all.
23% of Edgerton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.7 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1970.
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 (16), Wikidata (6), 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 and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
