On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Erin is more historic than 50% of U.S. towns, #211 of 362 in Wisconsin. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Erin’s overall grade.
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 Erin’s 7.9 sits above most of its state (72% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share (±2.3 points) is firm at this size.
Founding year: our sources. 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 →
What stands out about Erin’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Until the 1830s, the Erin area was home to Menominee and Potawatomi Native Americans Native American oral traditions claimed that Jesuit missionaries were the first white people to arrive in the area, possibly as early as the 1670s. Some historians have claimed that Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet stopped in the Erin area on their 1673–1674 journey to find the Rock River and planted a wooden cross on the summit of Holy Hill. However, no one has been able to determine with certainty who the first explorers to visit the area were, because Jesuit accounts often do not describe landmarks with specific enough details for historians to draw definitive conclusions.
Erin is more historic than 50% of U.S. towns, #211 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.
What is on the National Register in Erin?
One place: the Holy Hill (listed 1992).
How old are the homes in Erin?
5% of Erin’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.3 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1986.
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 (2), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
2012
2009
