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History · Fredonia

33% of Fredonia’s homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the Stony Hill School and the Kendall Cabinet Shop. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1894 on, and the census since 1930.

2on the National Register
33%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Fredonia’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 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Mapped building by building3 fire insurance maps, 1894 to 1910, drew every building in Fredonia.Old housesHalf of Fredonia’s homes were built before 1958.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Fredonia’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewLanceLatham1976: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Every building

Fredonia, building by building, 1894–1910

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Fredonia fire insurance map, 1894, sheet 11894Sheet 1 of 2
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

The story

How Fredonia came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Fredonia.

Read it all →

The land that became the village of Fredonia was originally inhabited by Native Americans, including the Potawatomi tribe, who surrendered the land to the United States government in 1833 through the 1833 Treaty of Chicago. While many Native people moved west of the Mississippi River to Kansas, some chose to remain and were referred to as "strolling Potawatomi" in contemporary documents because many of them were migrants who subsisted by squatting on their ancestral lands, which were now owned by white settlers. One such group was led by Chief Waubeka, who maintained a winter camp in the Ozaukee County community that bears his name as late as 1845. Eventually the Potawatomi who evaded forced removal gathered in northern Wisconsin, where they formed the Forest County Potawatomi Community.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Fredonia, 1847 to 1976

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1847BuiltStony Hill School is built
  3. 1860BuiltKendall Cabinet Shop is built
  4. 1888Post officeThe Kohler post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1906Post officeThe Kohler post office closes
  7. 1954On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 1976In the archiveLanceLatham1976
By decade

Fredonia, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1970s1 item
LanceLatham19761976LanceLatham1976
1980s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today2 recent
Fredonia, Wisconsin2024Fredonia, WisconsinFredonia Wisconsin June092009Fredonia Wisconsin June09
On the map

Fredonia on the map, 1954 to 1974

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

Fredonia on the 1954 USGS mapFredonia on the 1974 USGS map1954Sheboygan Falls 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 Fredonia.

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.

LanceLatham1976
Retake this viewLanceLatham1976, 1976

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

2 historic places in Fredonia

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

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1976
Stony Hill School
Stony Hill School, built 1847Kendall Cabinet Shop, built 1860
Buildings
Stony Hill SchoolBuilt 1847
Kendall Cabinet ShopBuilt 1860

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

People over time

Fredonia, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,500194019601980200020202,279

Grew from 312 people in 1930 to 2,279 in 2020, 7 times over.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Fredonia’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Fredonia

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

See all →
Glenway WescottAmerican poet, novelist and essayist · b. 1901
Lynn RoethkeAmerican judoka · b. 1961
Dave SteckelAmerican ice hockey player · b. 1982
HildegardeAmerican singer · b. 1906
W
Ward ChristensenComputer pioneer, invented Xmodem and co-invent… · b. 1945
Florian LampertAmerican politician · b. 1863
Places that used to be

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

Another post office, Kohler, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
KohlerWaubeka
Gone or out of use
Hartmann PitmineHillside SchoolschoolSpring Lake Pitmine
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Fredonia
Saint John the BaptistSaint JohnsSaint PaulUnionWaubeka Union

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.

Farmington4 historic placesA−SaukvilleIts storyB−Sherman3 historic placesABelgiumIts storyB

Questions about Fredonia’s history

What is on the National Register in Fredonia?

Two places: the Stony Hill School (listed 1976) and the Kendall Cabinet Shop (2016).

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 (3), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.