Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Franzen

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 · Franzen

17% of Franzen’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1969 on and old-book passages.

0on the National Register
17%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Franzen’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 Franzen are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Franzen, and 2 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Franzen’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Franzen’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 and places now gone

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

Holt
1900–1915
Galloway
1904–1976
19001960today
Hamlets and corners on the map
GallowayHolt
Gone or out of use
Fairview Schoolschool

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

The story

How Franzen came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Franzen.

Read it all →

The town was named for Christian Franzen, a German native who served on the Marathon County Board.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Franzen in 1913

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

This town was organized with the election of town officers in the spring of 1888 and I. S. IngersoU was elected the first chairman. When established the town embraced townships 26 and zj in range 10 east, but later township 27 was set ofif and established as the town of Franzen. This town borders o…
History of Marathon County, Wisconsin1913 · page 569Read the page →
Read the text

This town was organized with the election of town officers in the spring of 1888 and I. S. IngersoU was elected the first chairman. When established the town embraced townships 26 and zj in range 10 east, but later township 27 was set ofif and established as the town of Franzen. This town borders on Shawano and corners with Waupacca county, and some settlers came in from that territory before the building of the Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western Railroad, now the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad. A spur track of that road runs now clear through these two town-

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

Franzen, 1900 to 1976

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1900Post officeThe Holt post office opens
  3. 1904Post officeThe Galloway post office opens
  4. 1915Post officeThe Holt post office closes
  5. 1969On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1976Post officeThe Galloway 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

Franzen on the map, 1969 to 1984

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

Franzen on the 1969 USGS mapFranzen on the 1984 USGS map1969Rosholt sheet · 1:24,000

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Franzen

Nobody well known was born in Franzen itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
D
Dave KriegAmerican football player · b. 1958
Tim PolasekAmerican football coach · b. 1979
C
Chester J. RobertsAmerican football player and coach · b. 1889
E
Earl W. SchmidtAmerican judge · b. 1936
H
Helmer SwenholtUnited States Army officer · b. 1886
K
Kristian WelchAmerican football linebacker · b. 1998
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

AlbanIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBeventIts storyCGermaniaIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townElderonIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Franzen’s history

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 Wikipedia, 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.