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History · Ellison Bay

Ellison Bay’s post office opened in 1873, and 29% of its homes were built before 1940

1 place in town is on the National Register. Below: 3 old photos and papers from 1908 on.

1873first post office
1on the National Register
29%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Ellison Bay’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Ellison Bay began

When was Ellison Bay founded?

1873

The Ellison Bay post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 249153 years
Founding year: the first Ellison Bay post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Ellison Bay’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 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Ellison Bay’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
3 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewEllison Bay Wisconsin Street Scene: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Ellison Bay came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Ellison Bay.

Read it all →

A Native American name for the bay was Joe-Sahbe Bay, after a son of the Potowatomi Chief Neatoshing, who was also known as Mishicott. Joe-Sahbe means "Feather of the rolling cloud".

The community was founded in 1872 by John Eliasen, a Danish immigrant. Lumber and fishing were important businesses in the 19th century, replaced by fruit growing in the early 20th century, and today tourism is the main business.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Ellison Bay, 1908 to 1995

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1908In the archiveEllison Bay Wisconsin Street Scene
  3. 1919In the archiveBathing Beach
  4. 1995In the archiveNorbertBlei
By decade

Ellison Bay, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s–1910s2 items
Ellison Bay Wisconsin Street Scene1908Ellison Bay Wisconsin Street SceneBathing Beachc. 1919Bathing Beach
1920s–1980snothing 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
1990s1 item
NorbertBlei1995NorbertBlei
Today3 recent
Ellison Bay Orthography 20102010Ellison Bay Orthography 2010EllisonBayWisconsinDowntown2008EllisonBayWisconsinDowntownEllisonBayWisconsinDamage2006EllisonBayWisconsinDamage
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.

Ellison Bay Wisconsin Street Scene
Retake this viewEllison Bay Wisconsin Street Scene, 1908

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Ellison Bay

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
10
each building in a district counts

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

Questions about Ellison Bay’s history

What year was Ellison Bay founded?

The Ellison Bay post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 (6) and Wikipedia. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.