Founding year: the first Hebron post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Hebron’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hebron is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Hebron’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 Hebron’s 8.7 sits above most of its state (74% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±12.1 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 Hebron’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first steps toward the settlement of the town of Hebron, state of Wisconsin, Jefferson County, was made by the Rock river claim company, who, December 20, 1835, made a claim of about half a section of land on section 2, embracing a water-power formed by Bark river. This company consisted of sixteen persons, among whom were, Solomon Juneau, Dwight Foster, Jonas Folts, Enoch G. Darling, Elisha W. Ajitant David Sergeant, Milo Jones, George Homer, Lu I. Barber, Daniel Wells, William Paine, William Brown, Thomas Holmes and John Gale. The next year the company commenced the erection of a sawmill, under the superintendence of Alvin Foster. And notwithstanding the many inconveniences resulting from high prices, scarcity of provisions, and the difficulty of transportation, the company pushed forward the enterprise. They completed the mill in the fall and winter of 1836 and ‘37. In the …
Passages that mention Hebron, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The history of Jefferson county, Wisconsin, containing ... biographical sketches ..1879 · page 549Read the page →
Read the text
The town of Tunbridge was Township No. 6, Range 18 east of the Government Subdivision, and being the north half of the town of Hebron and the "' L " part of the town of Jefferson, and was organized pursuant to an act of the Legislature, and named by Cyrus Cushman after his native town in the State of Vermont. The first town meeting was held at his house April 7, 1846.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The history of Jefferson county, Wisconsin, containing ... biographical sketches ..1879 · page 499Read the page →
Read the text
following members so far as I am able to remember: Solomon Juneau, Sylvester Pettibone, Milo Jones, David Sargeant, Dwight Foster, Alvin Foster, William Barrio and George Sercomb. Some members of the company went out to Rock River on an exploring expedition, and made claims at Fort Atkinson, Jefferson and Hebron. In the summer of 1836, a saw-mill was commenced where the village of Hebron now stands (then called Bark Mills), under the supervision of Samuel Wales, now living at Brodhead.
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
Hebron, 1870 to 1904
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Hebron post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Hebron rank for history?
Hebron is more historic than 73% 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 Hebron?
One place: the Hebron Town Hall (listed 2002).
How old are the homes in Hebron?
36% of Hebron’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±12.1 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1960.
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 (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 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.
2004