Grafton’s post office opened in 1846, and 3 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 70% of U.S. towns · #122 of 362 in Wisconsin. What drives it
Most of Grafton was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1986. Its Register listings are the Cedarburg Woolen Co. Worsted Mill, the Grafton Flour Mill and the Milwaukee Falls Lime Company. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1880.
The Grafton post office opened in 1846, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Hamburgh (1844) and Ulao (1850), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 415 in 18802020 census: 12,094180 years
How historic is Grafton?
B+
More historic than 70% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Grafton post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Grafton’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Grafton is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns, #122 of 362 in Wisconsin. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Grafton’s overall grade.
Wisconsin towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Wisconsin town has 3.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Grafton’s 8.8 sits above most of its state (75% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 11 historic buildings outnumber those of 76% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. The pre-1940 share (±1.8 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Grafton’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first Europeans to visit the area were the Jesuit missionaries Claude-Jean Allouez and Claude Bablon, who visited a Native American village on the Milwaukee River near the future site of Grafton around 1670.
Timothy Wooden, who arrived in 1839 from the eastern United States, is considered Grafton's first permanent white resident. The majority of the early residents were immigrants from Germany and Ireland. In the early 1840s, the village was called Hamburg, because Jacob Eichler, one of the village founders, was an immigrant from Hamburg, Germany. A post office for "Hamburgh" was established in 1844.
The Grafton post office opened in 1846, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Grafton rank for history?
Grafton is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns, #122 of 362 in Wisconsin. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Grafton?
Three places: the Cedarburg Woolen Co. Worsted Mill (listed 1983), the Grafton Flour Mill (1983) and the Milwaukee Falls Lime Company (2012).
How old are the homes in Grafton?
6% of Grafton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.8 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1986.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (3), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
1996
1996