Most of Hazelhurst was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. Its Register listings are the Hagge, Hans J., Boathouse and the Yawkey, William H., Boathouse.
Founding year: the first Hazelhurst post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Hazelhurst’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hazelhurst is more historic than 52% 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 Hazelhurst’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 Hazelhurst’s 16.1 sits above most of its state (80% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% 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 (±3.8 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 Hazelhurst’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The Hazelhurst area is part of the traditional homelands of the Ojibwe people, who retained treaty rights to hunt, fish, and gather in the region following nineteenth-century agreements with the United States.
The community of Hazelhurst developed around the lumber industry in the late nineteenth century. In 1888, lumbermen William Clyman Yawkey, Cyrus Carpenter Yawkey, and George E. Lee acquired land near Lake Katherine and established a sawmill settlement. Their Yawkey and Lee Lumber Company began cutting timber during the winter of 1888–1889. The growing settlement included workers' residences, a boarding house, a general store, a post office, a church, and a school.
The Hazelhurst post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Hazelhurst rank for history?
Hazelhurst is more historic than 52% 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 Hazelhurst?
Two places: the Hagge, Hans J., Boathouse (listed 2005) and the Yawkey, William H., Boathouse (2009).
How old are the homes in Hazelhurst?
10% of Hazelhurst’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.8 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (4), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.
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