Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 30% of U.S. towns · #293 of 362 in Wisconsin. What drives it
Below: maps from 1955 on and old-book passages.
The Empire post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 30% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Empire is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns, #293 of 362 in Wisconsin. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull 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 Empire’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (28% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% 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 Empire’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Empire yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Empire is a town in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 2,774 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1853. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 2,797 in 2010, 2,774 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Empire, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Taycheedah formerly belonged to the town of Fond du Lac ; then was made up of the towns of Forest, Empire, a portion of Friendship (across the lake) and its present territory ; then of the present town of Empire and half of Taycheedah as it is ; and now is composed of the north tier of sections which should belong to Empire and twenty-three full and several fractional sections in Township 16 north, of Range 18 east. It has been in this shape since Empire was organized, in 1851. Lake Winnebago cuts into the town on the west, leaving but twenty-nine
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Benjamin was early impressed with the idea that industry and attentiveness to business were essentials to success; his mother, a woman of rare Christian virtues, did not fail to impress upon his mind those lessons of honesty and integrity which have characterized all his business transactions through life ; in the spring of 1852, he started for Wisconsin, and landed in the town of Empire April 13, where he purchased a fiirm of 160 acres, on which he made his home till 1874, whence he removed to another farm of 200 acres — 160 of which is in the town of Eden and forty in the town of Empire — he, however, retains his first farm of 160 acres ; here he makes a specialty of blooded stock, especially cattle, of which he sold four in 1876, which brought him just $700, and in the following year he sold a milch cow which weighed 1,700 pounds.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Benjamin was early impressed with the idea that industry and attentiveoess to business were essentials to success ; his mother, a woman of rare Christian virtues, did not fail to impress upon his miud those lessons of honesty and integrity which have characterized all his business transactions through life ; in the spring of 1852, he started for Wisconsin, and landed in the town of Empire April 13, where he purchased a farm of 160 acres, on which he made his home till 1874, wheuoe he removed to another farm of 200 acres — 160 of which is in the town of Eden and forty in the town of Empire — he, however, retains his first farm of 160 acres ; here he makes a specialty of blooded stock, especially cattle, of which he sold four in 1876, which brought him just $700, and in the following year he sold a milch cow which weighed 1,700 pounds.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Mr. May, ' who was a large, powerful man, had been engaged by Dr. Darling to come to Fond du Lac and operate the saw-mill, afterward known as the Clark mill in the town of Fond du Lac, and had started on foot from Green Bay. He ate breakfast at Wright's Hotel, in what is now Wrightstown, Brown Co., with G. deNeveu, now living in the town of Empire. He then ate but little and his voice sounded hollow and husky. He walked like one under a great burden of weariness, getting on slowly, calling for water, of which he drank unusual quantities, at nearly every house in Stockbridge. He walked still more heavily and wearily at Stockbridge, as though each succeeding step must be the last, and three days afterward was
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Empire. 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 Empire.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Empire had its own post office from 1853 to 1883.
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 Empire post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Empire is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns, #293 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.
11% of Empire’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.9 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1982.
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 Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
