Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Fern was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1994. Its Register listing is the Fern School. Below: maps from 1962 on and the census since 1920.
The Fern post office opened in 1913, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 Fern’s history is told.
Lost half of its people between 1940 and 1970, then more than doubled.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Fern’s Wikipedia page.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Fern yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Fern is a town in Florence County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 181 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1913. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 159 to 181 (+14%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
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 Fern. 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 Fern.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Nobody well known was born in Fern itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Fern had its own post office from 1913 to 1953.
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 Fern post office opened in 1913, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Fern School (listed 1981).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
