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BHistory
History · Greenwood

Greenwood’s post office opened in 1872, and 19% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 64% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Its Register listing is the Robert Schofield House. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1894 on, and the census since 1900.

1872first post office
1on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Greenwood’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Greenwood began

When was Greenwood founded?

1872

The Greenwood post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 708 in 19002020 census: 1,058154 years

How historic is Greenwood?

B

More historic than 64% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Greenwood post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Greenwood’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Greenwood is more historic than 64% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Greenwood’s overall grade.
Founding era1872, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194018.9% of homes (±7.0) · typical WI town 12.1% · U.S. 8.4%B+National Register1 listing, 2 historic buildings, 18.2 per 10,000 residents · typical WI town 3.0 · U.S. 2.4B+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 64%
NewerOlder

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 Greenwood’s 18.2 sits above most of its state (82% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 2 historic buildings outnumber those of 60% 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 is a Census survey estimate (±7.0 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 Greenwood’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 1922, drew every building in Greenwood.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Greenwood’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewHemlock Bridge, Spanning Black River on…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Every building

Greenwood, building by building, 1894–1922

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.

Greenwood fire insurance map, 1894, sheet 11894Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

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

The story

How Greenwood came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Greenwood.

Read it all →

In the years just before settlement, the future site of Greenwood was a hunting ground shared by Ojibwe, Menominee and Ho-Chunk people. The Black River ran quietly through immense forests until Mormon loggers came upstream in 1844, working out of a camp downstream from Greenwood's site, cutting white pine logs and floating them down the rivers to be used in their temple in Nauvoo, Illinois.

In 1847 or 1848 Van Dusen and Waterman built a mill on the west side of the Black River across from where Greenwood would grow. Albert Lambert built another mill nearby. Elijah and Frederick Eaton bought Van Dusen's mill in 1854. A little mill town began to take shape, called Eatonville for a while.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Greenwood, 1872 to 1963

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1872Post officeThe Greenwood post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1919Born hereCy Buker is born here
  5. 1931Born hereHarland Carl is born here
  6. 1963On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Greenwood, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Hemlock Bridge, Spanning Black River on Warner DriveDate?Hemlock Bridge, Spanning Black River on Warner Drive
Today6 recent
Greenwood Wisconsin downtown looking north2024Greenwood Wisconsin downtown looking northGreenwood City Hall2024Greenwood City HallGreenwood Wisconsin Looking South WIS732015Greenwood Wisconsin Looking South WIS73Greenwood Wisconsin Downtown Looking South WIS732015Greenwood Wisconsin Downtown Looking South WIS73Greenwood Wisconsin City Hall Public Library 19342015Greenwood Wisconsin City Hall Public Library 1934Robert Schofield house2011Robert Schofield house
On the map

Greenwood on the map, 1963 to 1982

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

Greenwood on the 1963 USGS mapGreenwood on the 1982 USGS map1963Owen 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 Greenwood.

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.

Hemlock Bridge, Spanning Black River on Warner Drive
Retake this viewHemlock Bridge, Spanning Black River on Warner Drive

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Greenwood

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1982
Robert Schofield House
Robert Schofield House
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Italianate1
Robert Schofield HouseItalianate

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

People over time

Greenwood, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,124

Between 651 and 1,124 people in every census since 1900.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Greenwood

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
H
Harland CarlAmerican football player · b. 1931
C
Cy BukerAmerican baseball player · b. 1919
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

EatonIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWarnerIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Greenwood’s history

What year was Greenwood founded?

The Greenwood post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Greenwood rank for history?

Greenwood is more historic than 64% 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.

What is on the National Register in Greenwood?

One place: the Robert Schofield House (listed 1982).

How old are the homes in Greenwood?

19% of Greenwood’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.0 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1973.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (6), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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), 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.