Jefferson’s post office opened in 1837, and 19% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 90% of U.S. towns · #41 of 362 in Wisconsin. What drives it
9 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 39 buildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1850.
Founding year: the first Jefferson post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Jefferson’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Jefferson is more historic than 90% of U.S. towns, #41 of 362 in Wisconsin. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Jefferson’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 Jefferson’s 62.1 sits above most of its state (91% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 48 historic buildings outnumber those of 85% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.9 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 Jefferson’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Jefferson. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1891Waterloo sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Jefferson.
Every building
Jefferson, building by building, 1884–1914
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
Jefferson's founders were settlers from New England, part of a wave of New England farmers who headed west into what was then the wilds of the Northwest Territory during the early 1800s. Specifically, on December 18, 1836, three settlers, all of them from Milwaukee, Rodney J. Currier, Andrew Lansing and Capt. Robert Masters, came from Bark Mills (Hebron) and "distributed" themselves about the Jefferson area. Currier and Lansing were the first known settlers in the area as they later erected a log cabin on a claim previously made. Most arrived as a result of the completion of the Erie Canal as well as the end of the Black Hawk War. Jefferson's location was selected to make use of the water power and transportation opportunities offered by the Rock River. It was the furthest point a steamboat could navigate the Rock in 1839. Later bridges built downstream prevented such navigation.
Passages that mention Jefferson, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The history of Jefferson county, Wisconsin, containing ... biographical sketches ..1879 · page 471Read the page →
Read the text
Previous to 1857, the present city of Jefferson was under the same government as the township. In 1857, the village of Jefferson was incorporated and represented in the township Board of Supervisors. This continued until 1878, when an act "to incorporate the citv of Jefferson" was passed by the Legislature of Wisconsin and approved March 19 of that year, since which date the whilom town and village has been considered as a municipal corporation, entitled to certain privileges and immunities thereunto appertaining, in consideration of securing to the citizens life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The city of Jefferson is still connected with the town or township government for town purposes.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A reminiscent history of the village and town of Lake Mills, Jefferson County1894Read the page →
Read the text
The first settlers in Jefferson county were American-born. The great tide of foreign emigration, which since that time has Bet in so strongly westward, had not then begun, and it was a number of years after the first settlers came to Jefferson county before the foregn-born sought homes here. The first settlement was of Germans near Jefferson in '42, and the first German girl I ever saw was engaged in my father's family as a domestic.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The history of Jefferson county, Wisconsin, containing ... biographical sketches ..1879 · page 45Read the page →
Read the text
river canal company. This company was given authority to apply to congress for an appropriation in money or lands to aid in the construction of the work, which was to have its eastern outlet in the Milwaukee river, and to unite at its western terminus with Rock river, near the present village of Jefferson, in Jefferson county. The result was that a grant of land of oddnumbered sections in a strip of territory five miles on each side of the line of the proposed canal was secured, and in July, 1839, over forty thousand acres were sold at the minimum price of two dollars and fifty cents per acre. However, owing mainly to the fact that purchasers were compelled to pay double the government price for their lands — owing also to the circumstance
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
Jefferson, 1837 to 1950
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
The Jefferson post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Jefferson rank for history?
Jefferson is more historic than 90% of U.S. towns, #41 of 362 in Wisconsin. 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 Jefferson?
9 listings: 8 buildings, among them the Richard C. Smith House (listed 1979, the first), and 1 historic district, the Main Street Commercial Historic District, with 39 contributing buildings. 48 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Jefferson?
19% of Jefferson’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.9 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1971.
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 (2), Wikidata (4), the National Register of Historic Places (9), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
