Glendale’s post office opened in 1856, and 21% of its homes were built before 1940
Its Register listing is the St. Lucas Evangelical German Lutheran Church and Cemetery. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1919 on, and old-book passages.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Glendale. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1919Kendall 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 Glendale.
The story so far
Glendale, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Glendale yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Glendale is a town in Monroe County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 663 at the 2020 census. The unincorporated community of Glendale is located in the town.
Its first post office opened in 1856. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 667 in 2010, 663 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Glendale in 1912
Passages that mention Glendale, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Monroe County Wisconsin1912 · page 216Read the page →
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that time there were nineteen supervisors on the board and the votes in favor of the courthouse came from the towns of Portland, Angelo, Eaton, Little Falls and the village of Sparta, and the votes against it came from Glendale, Wellington, Wilton, Ridgeville, Leon, LeRoy, Tomah (town), Adrian, Greenfield, Lafayette and, strange to say, the town of Sparta. It will be seen by the distribution of this vote that several localities still had hopes and the eombination was quite strong against the village
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Monroe County Wisconsin1912 · page 596Read the page →
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The second effort to establish a Lutheran church was made twelve years later by Rev. Wm. Parisius, who resided at Elroy, and preached to a congregation in the town of Glendale, four miles southeast of Kendall. He conducted divine services every alternate Sunday, especially in the shoe shop of Mr. Jul. Friske, the former town hall, having about twenty persons in the audience, among others: H. Prielipp, August Rheden, Julius Friske.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Monroe County, Wisconsin, past and present1912 · page 222Read the page →
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against the petition came from Angelo, Byron, Jeflferson, Lafayette, Leon, Little Falls, New Lyme, Portland, Ridgeville, Sheldon, town of Sparta, "Wells and city of Sparta; the votes in favor of the petition came from Adrian, Clifton. Glendale, LaGrange, Lincoln, Greenfield, Oakdale, town of Tomah, AVellington, AVilton and the city of Tomah, so that the votes were lined up Avith regard to location principally, only that George A. Boyington, of the town of Byron, did not vote with the eastern side of the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Monroe County, Wisconsin, past and present1912 · page 401Read the page →
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portion of the land on which the village is built while helping put the railroad through. In the early fifties, however, a railroad survey was made up the valley, and this, with the promise of a grist mill at Glendale, was the inducement held out to prospective settlers and purchasers of land by Jason AVeaver, of Ohio, who had preempted most of the available government land.
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
Glendale, 1856 to 1926
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
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 Library of Congress (1), 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.
