Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Gays Mills

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
GaysMillsWisconsinDowntownEastWIS171Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0
–Not graded
History · Gays Mills

Gays Mills’ post office opened in 1892, and 17% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1924 on, and the census since 1910.

1892first post office
0on the National Register
17%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Gays Mills’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Gays Mills began

When was Gays Mills founded?

1892

The Gays Mills post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 557 in 19102020 census: 523134 years
Founding year: the first Gays Mills post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Gays Mills’ 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.Boom and bustPeaked at 737 in 1940; 523 people lived here in 2020.On the map since 19243 editions of the USGS map, 1924 to 1983. Watch Gays Mills change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Gays Mills’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Gays Mills’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 viewGay's Mills Fair, Gay's Mills, Wisconsin: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Gays Mills, census by census

0200400600800192019401960198020002020Peak: 737

Peaked at 737 in 1940; 523 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

On the map

Gays Mills on the map, 1924 to 1983

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

Gays Mills on the 1924 USGS mapGays Mills on the 1966 USGS mapGays Mills on the 1983 USGS map1924Gays Mills 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 Gays Mills.

The story

How Gays Mills came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Gays Mills.

Read it all →

In 1847 James B. Gay, a native of Indiana, built a dam and a sawmill on the Kickapoo River, which proved to be a flourishing success. When his health started to fail, James convinced his brothers John and Thomas to move to the area. In 1865 John Gay built the first flour mill south of the saw mill. In 1872 Thomas Gay and family organized the First Congregational Church, the first church in Gays Mills and in 1898 the church building itself was finished. In the years between 1848 and 1865, many families moved into the community, which came to be known as Gays Mills in honor of the founder and his brothers.

ChaptersFlooding

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Gays Mills, 1892 to 1940

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1892Post officeThe Gays Mills post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1908In the archiveGay's Mills Fair, Gay's Mills, Wisconsin
  5. 1924On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1940CensusPopulation peaks at 737
By decade

Gays Mills, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s1 item
Gay's Mills Fair, Gay's Mills, Wisconsin1908Gay's Mills Fair, Gay's Mills, Wisconsin
1910s–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
Today5 recent
GaysMillsFloodDamage20102010GaysMillsFloodDamage2010GaysMillsFireDepartmentWIS1312010GaysMillsFireDepartmentWIS131AppleOrchardsGaysMillsWisconsinWIS1712010AppleOrchardsGaysMillsWisconsinWIS171FEMA - 33167 - Flood recovery donantion area at a Wisconsin Apple Festival2007FEMA - 33167 - Flood recovery donantion area at a Wis…WIMap-doton-Gays Mills2004WIMap-doton-Gays Mills
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.

Gay's Mills Fair, Gay's Mills, Wisconsin
Retake this viewGay's Mills Fair, Gay's Mills, Wisconsin, 1908

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

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

Famous people close to Gays Mills

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

See all →
Butch VigAmerican musician and record producer · b. 1955
C
Chris MulkeyAmerican actor · b. 1948
Mark C. LeeAmerican astronaut · b. 1952
James GillettAmerican politician · b. 1860
Amos FriesSecond chief of the United States Army's Chemic… · b. 1873
Philip BohlmanAmerican academic · b. 1952
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

UticaIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townClaytonIts storyB−Bell CenterIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Gays Mills’ history

What year was Gays Mills founded?

The Gays Mills post office opened in 1892, 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 (5), the Library of Congress (1), Wikipedia, 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.