–Not graded

History · Forest

25% of Forest’s homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Harris, George and Mable, Round Barn. Below: maps from 1927 on and old-book passages.

1on the National Register

25%homes built before 1940

What stands out about Forest’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Forest are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Forest, and 3 old place names are still on the map.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Forest’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Forest’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Mount Tabor

1856–1939

Valley

1865–1953

Dilly

1895–1920

18501940today

Hamlets and corners on the map

DillyMount TaborValley

Gone or out of use

Eastman SchoolschoolJohnniecake SchoolschoolSalem Schoolschool

6cemeteries and burying grounds inside Forest

Billings CreekFairviewForest - BurrMount TaborRevelsSaint Joseph

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story so far

Forest, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Forest yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Forest is a town in Vernon County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 617 at the 2020 census. The unincorporated communities of Dilly, Mount Tabor, and Valley are in the town. One of the earliest Black settlers in Forest was Wesley Barton (when the area was formerly known as Cheyenne Valley).

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 634 to 617 (-3%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Forest in 1884

Passages that mention Forest, cut from the printed page as they were published.

John Revels was but a boy of ten years when his father came into the town of Forest, in 1855. He was a native Hoosier, and born in Orange Co., Ind., in 1845. He grew up to manhood in the town of Forest, and has always made this his home. He has been engaged in agricultural pursuits through life, an… — **History of Vernon county, Wisconsin ..**1884Read the page →
Read the text
John Revels was but a boy of ten years when his father came into the town of Forest, in 1855. He was a native Hoosier, and born in Orange Co., Ind., in 1845. He grew up to manhood in the town of Forest, and has always made this his home. He has been engaged in agricultural pursuits through life, and now owns forty acres of land on section 6. In
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

John Lathrop, one the prospering farmers of the town of Forest, was born in Cambridge, Vt., in 1838. He there resided until 1863, when he went to Franklin Co., Vt., where he engaged in farming for five years. In 1808 he came to the town of Forest, and purchased eighty acres of land on section 22, w… — **History of Vernon county, Wisconsin ..**1884Read the page →
Read the text
John Lathrop, one the prospering farmers of the town of Forest, was born in Cambridge, Vt., in 1838. He there resided until 1863, when he went to Franklin Co., Vt., where he engaged in farming for five years. In 1808 he came to the town of Forest, and purchased eighty acres of land on section 22, which farm he has increased to 200 acres. Mr. Lathrop was mar-
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.

Timeline

Forest, 1856 to 1953

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

19th century
1856Post officeThe Mount Tabor post office opens
1865Post officeThe Valley post office opens
1895Post officeThe Dilly post office opens
20th century
1906BuiltHarris, George and Mable, Round Barn is built
1920Post officeThe Dilly post office closes
1927On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
1939Post officeThe Mount Tabor post office closes
1953Post officeThe Valley post office closes

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.

Add from your album

On the map

Forest on the map, 1927 to 1983

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Forest. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

1927Hillsboro sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Forest.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Forest

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

2017

Harris, George and Mable, Round Barn

Buildings

All 1 listings

Harris, George and Mable, Round BarnBuilding · listed 2017

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

WhitestownIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town HillsboroIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town UnionIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town WellingtonIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Forest’s history

What is on the National Register in Forest?

One place: the Harris, George and Mable, Round Barn (listed 2017).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

Start a conversation

Sources

Where this page comes from

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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.

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