Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Elderon

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Elderon

18% of Elderon’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1899 on and the census since 1920.

0on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: TheCatalyst31 · CC BY-SA 4.0

What stands out about Elderon’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Elderon are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18994 editions of the USGS map, 1899 to 1982. Watch Elderon change.Boom and bustPeaked at 249 in 1940; 161 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Elderon’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Elderon on the map, 1899 to 1982

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

Elderon on the 1899 USGS mapElderon on the 1902 USGS mapElderon on the 1964 USGS mapElderon on the 1982 USGS map1899Wausau sheet · 1:125,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Elderon.

People over time

Elderon, census by census

0100200192019401960198020002020Peak: 249

Peaked at 249 in 1940; 161 people lived here in 2020.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

The story

How Elderon came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Elderon.

Read it all →

A post office called Elderon has been in operation since 1888. The village was named for a grove of elder trees near the town site.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Elderon, 1892 to 1940

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1892Post officeThe Ingersoll post office opens
  3. 1894Post officeThe Ingersoll post office closes
  4. 1899On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 20th century
  6. 1938Born hereRoger Breske is born here
  7. 1940CensusPopulation peaks at 249
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Another post office, Ingersoll, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Ingersoll
1cemetery inside Elderon
Evergreen Rest

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

ReidIts storyC+NorrieIts storyC+WittenbergIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townFranzenIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Elderon’s history

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 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) 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.