Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 79% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Hazel Green Town Hall. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1952 on, and the census since 1870.
The Hazel Green post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 79% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hazel Green is more historic than 79% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
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 Hazel Green’s 8.3 sits above most of its state (73% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Hazel Green’s history is told.
Lost a third of its people between 1870 and 1890, then more than doubled.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Hazel Green’s Wikipedia page.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereHenry Olerich is born here
BuiltHazel Green Town Hall is built
In the archiveCleveland Mine, Hazel Green, Wis
Born hereJohn W. Cox, Jr. is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Hazel Green.
In 1825, the village was named from dense growth of American Hazelnut near the town site.
In 1876, a tornado struck Hazel Green; nine died, many were injured, and property loss was approximately $40,000 to $50,000 (equivalent to $1.21 million to $1.51 million in 2025).
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Hazel Green, cut from the printed page as they were published.
dences which were erected in Rood's Addition went up about this time, and Lewisburg, a town of great ambition, but slender prospects, was beginning to come into notice. This projected municipality was surveyed and platted in 1846 by Henry C. Wiltse, on the Curtis farm, a mile north of Hazel Green, and named after Lewis Curtis, who will be remembered as an arrival here in 1827. It was thought that the enterprise might, in time, either neutralize the influence and importance of Hazel Green, or become a valuable addition to that place. Lots were laid out, streets designated and named, and other improvements proposed, but they were never realized, nor were the ambitions of its founders ; the village that was to be failed to attract visitors ;
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
dences which were erected in Rood's Addition went up about this time, and Lewisburg, a town of great ambition, but slender prospects, was beginning to come into notice. This projected municipality was surveyed and platted in 1846 by Henry C. Wiltse, on the Curtis farm, a mile north of Hazel Green, and named after Lewis Curtis, who will be remembered as an arrival here in 1827. It was thought that the enterprise might, in time, either neutralize the influence •and importance of Hazel Green, or become a valuable addition to that place. Lots were laid •out, streets designated and named, and other improvements proposed, but they were never realized, nor were the ambitions of its founders ; the village that was to be failed to attract visitors ;
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The cause of education found an early and, it may be added, substantial support in the village of Hazel Green. Not only have public places of learning been liberally sustained, but private enterprises extended a gratifying support. In the fall of 1843, John Smith, at present engaged as mail contractor between Hazel Green and Cuba City, opened a school in a frame house on Lower Main street, built and furnished by public subscription. His roster of pupils was made up of scholars from all parts of the present township, and the course of study such as found favor from its simplicity forty years ago.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The following diggings are in the village of Hazel Green, but not on the lands of the Hazel Green Mining Company : McBrien & Co. — This is an east-and-west sheet, connected with a quartering one averaging about an inch thick, situated on the land of Dr. McBrien, on the northwest quarter of Section 25, Town 1, Range 1 west. The range was worked in 1844, and the ore taken out to the water-level. The water having become much reduced by the Hazel Green Company’s level, work was recommenced in 1871, since which
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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2013Farmland near the Wisconsin-Illinois Border
2013Dinosaurs Statues 2
2013Dinosaurs Statues 1
2013Dairy Farm with Two Silos - panoramio (2)
2013Dairy Farm with Four Silos - panoramio (3)
2013Dairy Farm near Sinsinawa
2013Dairy Farm near
2013Dairy Farm near Hazel Green - panoramio (1)
2013Communication Tower - panoramio (2)
2013Cell Tower - panoramio (24)
2013Cell Tower - panoramio (23)
2013Alien Flying Saucer
2012KFXB-TV CTN Channel 43
2012KATF 92.9 FM Broadcast TowerThe U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hazel Green.
1952Cuba City sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Hazel Green.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Hazel Green’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Hazel Green post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Hazel Green is more historic than 79% 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.
One place: the Hazel Green Town Hall (listed 1989).
18% of Hazel Green’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.8 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1977.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (15), the Library of Congress (2), 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 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.
1915![Kennedy Mine, Hazel Grenn [sic], Wis](https://images.townratings.com/story/18932/5b65fa87f048f62c4d6f-s.jpg)
1915