Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 44% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1901 on and old-book passages.
More historic than 44% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Excelsior is more historic than 44% of U.S. towns. 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 Excelsior’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: 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 →
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 Excelsior’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Excelsior. 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 Excelsior.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Excelsior yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
The Town of Excelsior is a located in Sauk County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,603 at the 2020 census.
Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 1,575 in 2010, 1,603 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Excelsior, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Francis N. Peck, register of deeds of Sauk County from 1880 to 1886, is one of the oldest and most prominent residents of the Town of Excelsior and City of Baraboo, A Connecticut man, he came to Excelsior in March, 1856, then in his twenty-eighth year, and has been a farmer ever since. Aside from this, the main business of his life, he has given most of his time to the public affairs of his town, and during the many years of his residence therein was usually serving as town clerk, chairman of the town board, supervisor of the county board, or justice of the peace,
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
2016Dairy Farm with Two Harvestore Silos
2016Dairy Farm with Three Silos - panoramio (6)
2016Dairy Farm with Three Harvestore Silos
2016Copper Creek Marshland
2016Communication Tower - panoramio (8)
2016Barn and a Silo near Rock Springs
2016Barn and a Silo near Reedsburg
2016Barn and a Silo - panoramio (16)
2016Baraboo River Lowlands
2016Baraboo Range - panoramio (16)
2016A Silo and a Bright Red Barn
2004WIMap-doton-ExcelsiorNobody well known was born in Excelsior itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Ableman, opened and closed inside today’s town.
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.
Excelsior is more historic than 44% of U.S. towns. 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.
18% of Excelsior’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.0 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1980.
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 Wikimedia Commons (12), 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.
