The story
Read it all →How Hull came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Hull.
The town of Hull was named for David B. Hull, who was one of the original settlers in the area.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Hull
47% of Hull’s homes were built before 1940
Below: maps from 1981 on and old-book passages.
0on the National Register
47%homes built before 1940
What stands out about Hull’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 Hull’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Hull’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.From the old history books
What they wrote about Hull in 1913
Passages that mention Hull, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Marathon County, Wisconsin1913 · page 135Read the page →
Read the text
David B. Hull made homestead entry September 27, 1871, in section 20, township 28, range 2 east, in the present town of Hull, the town being given his name as the first actual settler, though the entry of Lowe precedes his by a few days.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Marathon County, Wisconsin1913 · page 138Read the page →
Read the text
the mill of Angus Lamont about two miles south of Colby. Built in 1874 and operated from 1875 to 1896. But as the mills were going into operation more settlers came and moved eastward into Marathon and west into Clark county. The strongest farm settlement was in the town of Hull in which was located the village of Colby, and that town was the first newly organized town on the "line," meaning the boundary line of the county. The lumber industry employed many men on the "line;" it brought quick returns, and therefore was favorable to the new settlers. The population had so increased
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
Hull, 1891 to 1981
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1891Post officeThe Cherokee post office opens
- 20th century
- 1902Post officeThe Cherokee post office closes
- 1981
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your albumOn the map
Hull on the map in 1981
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hull.
1981Milan 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 Hull.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Hull
Nobody well known was born in Hull itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone
Another post office, Cherokee, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Hamlets and corners on the map
Cherokee
Gone or out of use
Lone Pine SchoolschoolPleasant Hill SchoolschoolRiverside SchoolschoolRiverview Airportairport
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 Hull’s history
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.