Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Iron Ridge yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Iron Ridge is a village in Dodge County, Wisconsin, United States. As of the 2020 census, Iron Ridge had a population of 904. The village was founded on a railroad line, named for the iron mined in the area. Its ZIP code is 53035.
Its first post office opened in 1849. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 929 to 904 (-3%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Iron Ridge in 1880
Passages that mention Iron Ridge, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The History of Dodge County, Wisconsin, containing a history of Dodge County, its early settlement, growth, development, resources, etc1880 · page 313Read the page →
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more of this ledge is composed of heavy, rough beds of Niagara limestone. Beneath this lies the ore bed, having a varying thickness averaging, perhaps, fifteen or twenty feet. The mine is situated a short distance west of the center of Section 13. Near it is the furnace, and a little further west is the village of Iron Ridge. Three-quarters of a mile north of this point is the Mayville mine, or what is known as the Mayville ore bed, though the village of Mayville is four
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The History of Dodge County, Wisconsin, containing a history of Dodge County, its early settlement, growth, development, resources, etc1880 · page 394Read the page →
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The Fond du Lac, Amboy & Peoria Railroad, however, the southern terminus of which is in Dodge County, is of special local interest. Scarcely a railway in Wisconsin has so much history as this, a narrow-gauge railway, extending from Fond du Lac. through the towns of Fond du Lac and Byron, in Fond du Lac County, to Iron Ridge, in Dodge County, a distance of 28 miles, but only a portion of it can properly be written. Alonzo Kinyon, a prominent citizen of Lee County, 111., who originated the Chicago & Rock River Railroad, and was its President, conceived the plan of connecting the iron, copper, lumber and manufacturing regions of Wisconsin with the corn and coal regions of Illinois, by a more direct route than any then in existence. He was one of the earliest
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
By decade
Iron Ridge, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
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 Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
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