Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 76% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1892 on and old-book passages.
The Farmington post office opened in 1844, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 76% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Farmington is more historic than 76% 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 Farmington’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 Farmington’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Farmington. 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 Farmington.
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 SurveyWikipedia doesn’t have a history of Farmington yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Farmington is a town in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, United States. The population as of the 2020 census was 1,407.
Its first post office opened in 1844. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 1,380 in 2010, 1,407 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Farmington, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Charles Dunning settled at an early day in the eastern portion of Farmington, and is said by some to have built the first log house in the town. Johnson and Charles Goodhue made a joint claim where the pretentious village of Johnson's Creek now stands, and built a cabin on ground over which the track of the North-Western Railway now runs, and nearly opposite the present residence of G. C. Mansfield. A dam and saw-mill were also built by Messrs. Johnson and Goodhue. This mill property afterward came into the possession, at various times, of the following individuals : Samuel Ward, a Mr. Thomas, Ansel Bullis, Mr. Currier and Benjamin Douglass, the latter of whom rebuilt it. When Mr. and Mrs. Douglass came to Johnson's Creek in 1842,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
north line of the town of Concord, where it is joined by the Oconomowoc River. It then runs in a northwesterly direction through the town and city of Watertown, passing again into Dodge County, but turns abruptly and flows south back through the town of Watertown, becoming the boundary line between the towns of Milford and Farmington, passing through the towns of Aztalan, Jefferson and Koshkonong, and leaving the county through Lake Koshkonong, one of the most beautiful sheets of water in the Northwest.
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Nobody well known was born in Farmington itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Farmington had its own post office from 1844 to 1904.
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 Farmington post office opened in 1844, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Farmington is more historic than 76% 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.
41% of Farmington’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±12.9 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1962.
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 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.
