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History · Egg Harbor

Egg Harbor’s post office opened in 1861, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Egg Harbor was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1987. Its Register listing is the Cupola House. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1961 on, and the census since 1970.

1861first post office
1on the National Register
7%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Egg Harbor began

When was Egg Harbor founded?

1861

The Egg Harbor post office opened in 1861, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 184 in 19702020 census: 358165 years
Founding year: the first Egg Harbor post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Egg Harbor’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Egg Harbor’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Egg Harbor’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewChief Oshkosh statue: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Egg Harbor, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Egg Harbor yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Egg Harbor is a village in Door County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 358 at the 2020 census. It is adjacent to the Town of Egg Harbor and the Town of Gibraltar on the Door Peninsula, a popular Upper Midwest vacation destination. The village was incorporated in 1964. The harbor was known to the Potawatomi as Che-bah-ye-sho-da-ning, or "ghost door".

Its first post office opened in 1861. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 201 to 358 (+78%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Egg Harbor in 1881

Passages that mention Egg Harbor, cut from the printed page as they were published.

The County Board, on the 9th of July, 1861, set off of Gibraltar the township of Egg Harbor. The first town meeting was held in the school house, near Mr. J. Thorpe's place. As to the origin of the name "Egg Harbor," there is some variation in the statements of the "old settlers." One statement is,…
History of Door county, Wisconsin, together with biographies of nearly seven hundred families, and mention of 4,000 persons ..1881 · page 77Read the page →
Read the text

The County Board, on the 9th of July, 1861, set off of Gibraltar the township of Egg Harbor. The first town meeting was held in the school house, near Mr. J. Thorpe's place. As to the origin of the name "Egg Harbor," there is some variation in the statements of the "old settlers." One statement is, that Mr. Claflin, (the first white settler in Door county) so named it, because, while coasting along the shore, he got good shelter there, and on the beach he found a nest full of

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
29> 3°> 31* 32» and fractional town 33, and Islands in Green Bay, We remained under that organization a short time, when Liberty Grove was set off. In 1861 Gibraltar was divided into three towns, viz: Gibraltar, Egg Harbor, and Bailey's Harbor, and the first town meeting was appointed to be held in…
History of Door county, Wisconsin, together with biographies of nearly seven hundred families, and mention of 4,000 persons ..1881 · page 83Read the page →
Read the text

29> 3°> 31* 32» and fractional town 33, and Islands in Green Bay, We remained under that organization a short time, when Liberty Grove was set off. In 1861 Gibraltar was divided into three towns, viz: Gibraltar, Egg Harbor, and Bailey's Harbor, and the first town meeting was appointed to be held in a school house in April, 1862, when the following town officers were elected : John Scott, chairman; Adam Hendricks, and L. D. Wood, supervisors; Soloman Beery, town clerk In i860, Mr. B. Hun ton, of Chicago, brought a stock of pro-

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

Egg Harbor, 1861 to 1968

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1861Post officeThe Egg Harbor post office opens
  3. 1871BuiltCupola House is built
  4. 20th century
  5. 1958In the archiveChief Oshkosh statue
  6. 1961On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1968In the archiveRanunculus bulbosus St. Anthonys turnip
By decade

Egg Harbor, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1950s to the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1950s–1960s2 items
Chief Oshkosh statue1958Chief Oshkosh statueRanunculus bulbosus St. Anthonys turnip1968Ranunculus bulbosus St. Anthonys turnip
1970s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today15 recent
A dog with an American ermine (Mustela richardsonii) in a window in Egg Harbor, Wisconsin, United States (iNaturalist2020A dog with an American ermine (Mustela richardsonii) …Dairy Barn Door County Wisconsin2018Dairy Barn Door County WisconsinEgg Harbor, WI2013Egg Harbor, WIEgg Harbor Welcome Center2013Egg Harbor Welcome CenterView of Egg Harbor Beach from the Egg Harbor Marina, Door County, Wisconsin2012View of Egg Harbor Beach from the Egg Harbor Marina, …Cherry orchard themed golf course in the village of2012Cherry orchard themed golf course in the village ofLittleStrawberryIslandDoorCountyWisconsinFromEggHarbor2011LittleStrawberryIslandDoorCountyWisconsinFromEggHarborEggHarborWisconsinDowntown2WIS422011EggHarborWisconsinDowntown2WIS42AdventureIslandDoorCountyWisconsinFromEggHarbor2011AdventureIslandDoorCountyWisconsinFromEggHarborLull Abi Inn2009Lull Abi InnEggHarborWisconsinSignWIS422008EggHarborWisconsinSignWIS42Egg Harbor, Door County, Wisconsin, December 20082008Egg Harbor, Door County, Wisconsin, December 2008EggHarborWisconsin1WIS422007EggHarborWisconsin1WIS42Egg Harbor Beach Park2005Egg Harbor Beach ParkWIMap-doton-Egg Harbor2004WIMap-doton-Egg Harbor
On the map

Egg Harbor on the map, 1961 to 1982

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Egg Harbor. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Egg Harbor on the 1961 USGS mapEgg Harbor on the 1982 USGS map1961Chambers Island 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 Egg Harbor.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Chief Oshkosh statue
Retake this viewChief Oshkosh statue, 1958

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Egg Harbor’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Egg Harbor

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
first listed
1979
Cupola House
Cupola House, built 1871
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Victorian1
Cupola HouseVictorian · Built 1871

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Egg Harbor, census by census

0100200300400198020002020Peak: 358

Between 183 and 358 people in every census since 1970.

6 censuses, 1970–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Egg Harbor’s Wikipedia page.

Questions about Egg Harbor’s history

What year was Egg Harbor founded?

The Egg Harbor post office opened in 1861, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Egg Harbor?

One place: the Cupola House (listed 1979).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (17), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.