The story
Read it all →How Hamilton came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Hamilton.
The Town of Hamilton was named by John M. Coburn, after Hamilton College in Clinton, New York.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
CHistory
History · Hamilton
12% of Hamilton’s homes were built before 1940
More historic than 33% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1927 on, and the census since 1990.
0on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Quick answers
About Hamilton’s history
How historic is Hamilton?
C
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 33% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
History grade
What drives Hamilton’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hamilton is more historic than 33% 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 Hamilton’s overall grade.
Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 194012.4% of homes (±5.8) · typical WI town 12.1% · U.S. 8.4%B−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical WI town 3.0 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 33%
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 Hamilton’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 two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.8 points).
Founding year: our sources. 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 Hamilton’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Hamilton’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Hamilton’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Timeline
Hamilton, 1852 to 1927
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1852Post officeThe Neshonoc post office opens
- 1881Post officeThe Neshonoc post office closes
- 20th century
- 1927
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade
Hamilton, decade by decade
Date unknown1 to date
Date?
2023
2014
2004On the map
Hamilton on the map, 1927 to 1993
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hamilton. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1927La Crosse sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Hamilton.
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.
Retake this viewConcordia Mills
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Hamilton’s page.
Retake this view · +15People over time
Hamilton, census by census
Between 2,149 and 2,561 people in every census since 1990.
3 censuses, 1990–2010.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Hamilton’s Wikipedia page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Hamilton
Nobody well known was born in Hamilton itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds
Another post office, Neshonoc, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Gone or out of use
Gill Coulee SchoolschoolNeshonoc SchoolschoolPhillips Ridge SchoolschoolWaterloo Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Hamilton
Neshonoc
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Hamilton’s history
How does Hamilton rank for history?
Hamilton is more historic than 33% 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 Hamilton?
12% of Hamilton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.8 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1991.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (3), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (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.