Photo: User Royalbroil on en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 2.5
Quick answers
How Greenleaf began
When was Greenleaf founded?
1873
The Greenleaf post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Ledgeville (1874), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 733153 years
How historic is Greenleaf?
C+
More historic than 44% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Greenleaf post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Greenleaf’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Greenleaf is more historic than 44% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Greenleaf’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 Greenleaf’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (28% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±14.8 points). 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 Greenleaf’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
As of the 2010 census it had a population of 607. Greenleaf was named for Emery B. Greenleaf, the general manager of the Milwaukee & Northern railroad at the time the Greenleaf post office was established in 1873.
In 2020, 800 residents of the community petitioned the state of Wisconsin to become a village. The Wisconsin Incorporation Review Board denied the petition's "characteristics of the territory" requirement as the petition included two separate areas: one in the vicinity of a roundabout of state highways WIS 57 and Wisconsin Highway 96 and another isolated area to the east of the Niagara Escarpment. The second area is isolated from the first by the escarpment, a quarry and vacant lands.
Passages that mention Greenleaf, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Brown County, Wisconsin, past and present1913 · page 533Read the page →
Read the text
pany. He later sold out his interest to his partner. Mr. Lawton then purchased a full equipment of new machinery and engaged again in the same business under his own name, selling out the business in 1871. From 1873 to 1879 he was engaged in the lime business at Greenleaf, Wisconsin. In 1879 he organized the Novelty Manufacturing Company to manufacture machinery of all kinds and in 1886 changed the firm title to C. A. Lawton and carried on the business under this name for ten years. In 1896 he took his son, Edward W. Lawton, into partnership with him under the firm name of
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
Greenleaf, 1873 to 1954
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Greenleaf post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Greenleaf rank for history?
Greenleaf is more historic than 44% of U.S. towns. 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.
How old are the homes in Greenleaf?
23% of Greenleaf’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±14.8 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1993.
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 (5), 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.
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