Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Fort Winnebago

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Fort Winnebago

Fort Winnebago’s post office opened in 1833, and 20% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1902 on, and old-book passages.

1833first post office
0on the National Register
20%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Fort Winnebago’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Fort Winnebago began

When was Fort Winnebago founded?

1833

The Fort Winnebago post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 812193 years
Founding year: the first Fort Winnebago post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Fort Winnebago’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19023 editions of the USGS map, 1902 to 1984. Watch Fort Winnebago change.Deep rootsA post office since 1833: 193 years of Fort Winnebago.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Fort Winnebago’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewFort Winnebago in 1831: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Fort Winnebago on the map, 1902 to 1984

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

Fort Winnebago on the 1902 USGS mapFort Winnebago on the 1962 USGS mapFort Winnebago on the 1984 USGS map1902Portage 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 Fort Winnebago.

Timeline

Fort Winnebago, 1832 to 1902

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1832In the archiveIndian Campaign of 1832 (NBY 1348)
  3. 1833Post officeThe Fort Winnebago post office opens
  4. 1861Post officeThe Fort Winnebago post office closes
  5. 1865In the archiveFort Winnebago in 1831
  6. 20th century
  7. 1902On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story so far

Fort Winnebago, in brief

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

Fort Winnebago is a town in Columbia County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 812 at the 2020 census. The unincorporated community of Anacker is located in the town.

Its first post office opened in 1833. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 825 in 2010, 812 in 2020.

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

From the old history books

What they wrote about Fort Winnebago, 1880–1914

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

Town of Arlington— Village of Arlington— Town of Caledonia— Town of Columbu.'*— Town of Courtland— Village of Cambri.\— Village of Randolph— Town of Deeorra —Village of Dekorra— Village of Poynette— Town of Fort Winnebago. town of ARLINGTON. The first permanent settlement in Arlington was made by C…
The history of Columbia county, Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement ..1880 · page 698Read the page →
Read the text

Town of Arlington— Village of Arlington— Town of Caledonia— Town of Columbu.'*— Town of Courtland— Village of Cambri.\— Village of Randolph— Town of Deeorra —Village of Dekorra— Village of Poynette— Town of Fort Winnebago. town of ARLINGTON. The first permanent settlement in Arlington was made by Clark M. Young, on Section 1, in the spring of 1838. For six years, he was "monarch of all he surveyed " in this town, there being no other settler to dispute his claim. J. Pratt came in 1844; and during that year and the six following, came a large number, including N. Van Winter, Nathan Hazen, William A.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
officially included in the town of Fort Winnebago at this date, but nominally belonged to it. In April, officers for the town of Fort Winnebago were chosen as follows : Supervisors — Erastus Cook (Chairman), Henry Carpenter and Richard Dempsey ; Town Clerk, Cornelius H. Helms ; Treasurer, Thomas E.…
The history of Columbia county, Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement ..1880 · page 605Read the page →
Read the text

officially included in the town of Fort Winnebago at this date, but nominally belonged to it. In April, officers for the town of Fort Winnebago were chosen as follows : Supervisors — Erastus Cook (Chairman), Henry Carpenter and Richard Dempsey ; Town Clerk, Cornelius H. Helms ; Treasurer, Thomas E. Best ; Assessor, Thomas Christopher ; School Superintendent, D. Vandercook. Justices of the Peace — M. Van Winters, Walter N.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Town of Fort Winnebago The first permanent settlement within the present limits of the Town of Fort Winnebago was made in 1848. The uneasy few at the Fox River side of the portage and those who squatted near the old fort cannot be included under the phrase "permanent settlement."
A history of Columbia County, Wisconsin1914 · page 421Read the page →
Read the text

Town of Fort Winnebago The first permanent settlement within the present limits of the Town of Fort Winnebago was made in 1848. The uneasy few at the Fox River side of the portage and those who squatted near the old fort cannot be included under the phrase "permanent settlement."

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
for Kilhourn City as any man who ever Never .More Than Port "Hope' Port Hope, for many years a postoffiee in the southwest quarter of Section 3, Town of Fort Winnebago, was platted as a town site by Jonathan Whitney. Mr. Whitney was a young man from Vermont, who came to Wisconsin in 1 SJ4, and, alt…
A history of Columbia County, Wisconsin1914 · page 397Read the page →
Read the text

for Kilhourn City as any man who ever Never .More Than Port "Hope' Port Hope, for many years a postoffiee in the southwest quarter of Section 3, Town of Fort Winnebago, was platted as a town site by Jonathan Whitney. Mr. Whitney was a young man from Vermont, who came to Wisconsin in 1 SJ4, and, alter living in Milwaukee as a grain dealer and in Green Lake County as a farmer, became a settler of that part of Columbia County in May, 1848. He selected a homestead in the

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.

By decade

Fort Winnebago, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1830s to the 1860s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1830s–1860s2 items
Indian Campaign of 1832 (NBY 1348)1832Indian Campaign of 1832 (NBY 1348)DocumentFort Winnebago in 18311865Fort Winnebago in 1831
Today5 recent
Fort Winnebago site and historical marker2019Fort Winnebago site and historical markerFort Winnebago Surgeons Quarters Historic Site and Garrison School2014Fort Winnebago Surgeons Quarters Historic Site and Ga…2014 05 15 FWSQ sign with tulip 010920142014 05 15 FWSQ sign with tulip 0109Fort Winnebago Sturgeons Quarters Site2011Fort Winnebago Sturgeons Quarters SiteWIMap-doton-Fort Winnebago2004WIMap-doton-Fort Winnebago
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Fort Winnebago in 1831
Retake this viewFort Winnebago in 1831, 1865

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Fort Winnebago’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Fort Winnebago had its own post office from 1833 to 1861.

Fort Winnebago
1833–1861
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Anacker
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Fort Winnebago
BachOld Fort WinnebagoSpicer

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Portage8 historic placesA−MarcellonIts storyA−Pacific1 historic placeCLewistonIts storyC

Questions about Fort Winnebago’s history

What year was Fort Winnebago founded?

The Fort Winnebago post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 Wikimedia Commons (7), 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.