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History · Kickapoo

Kickapoo’s post office opened in 1854, and 20% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1966 on and old-book passages.

1854first post office
0on the National Register
20%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Kickapoo began

When was Kickapoo founded?

1854

The Kickapoo post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Sugar Grove (1864) and Manning (1887), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 722172 years
Founding year: the first Kickapoo post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Kickapoo’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Kickapoo are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Kickapoo, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Kickapoo’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Kickapoo’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Kickapoo had its own post office from 1854 to 1900. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Kickapoo
1854–1900
Sugar Grove
1864–1902
Manning
1887–1900
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Sugar Grove
Gone or out of use
Day Creek SchoolschoolManning SchoolschoolSherry SchoolschoolSpring Valley SchoolschoolSugar Grove Schoolschool
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Kickapoo
BerryManning

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story so far

Kickapoo, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Kickapoo yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Kickapoo is a town in Vernon County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 722 at the 2020 census. The unincorporated communities of Kickapoo Center and Sugar Grove are located in the town.

Its first post office opened in 1854. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 626 to 722 (+15%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Kickapoo, 1884–1896

Passages that mention Kickapoo, cut from the printed page as they were published.

dwelling where the village of Genoa now stands, and Daniel Reed erected the first sawmill at Readstown, in the present town of Kickapoo, about the year 1849. Albert Field was one of the first settlers in the town of Hillsborough, in the year 1850 or 1851. A Mr.
History of Vernon county, Wisconsin ..1884 · page 319Read the page →
Read the text

dwelling where the village of Genoa now stands, and Daniel Reed erected the first sawmill at Readstown, in the present town of Kickapoo, about the year 1849. Albert Field was one of the first settlers in the town of Hillsborough, in the year 1850 or 1851. A Mr.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
dwelling where the village of Genoa now stands, and Daniel Reed erected the first sawmill at Readstown, in the present town of Kickapoo, about the year 1849. Albert Field was one of the first settlers in the town of Hillsborough, in the year 1850 or 1851. A Mr.
History of Vernon County, Wisconsin, together with sketches of its towns, villages and townships, educational, civil, military and political history1884 · page 321Read the page →
Read the text

dwelling where the village of Genoa now stands, and Daniel Reed erected the first sawmill at Readstown, in the present town of Kickapoo, about the year 1849. Albert Field was one of the first settlers in the town of Hillsborough, in the year 1850 or 1851. A Mr.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
In the year 1889, a company was incorporated for the purpose of building a railroad through the Kickapoo Valley from mouth to source, under the name of the Kickapoo Valley & Northern Railway Company. The construction of a road-bed was soon afterward commenced and was completed between the village o…
The Kickapoo valley the gem of Wisconsin. A brief history . .1896 · page 50Read the page →
Read the text

In the year 1889, a company was incorporated for the purpose of building a railroad through the Kickapoo Valley from mouth to source, under the name of the Kickapoo Valley & Northern Railway Company. The construction of a road-bed was soon afterward commenced and was completed between the village of Wauzeka, at the mouth of the Kickapoo river, to the village of Soldiers Grove, con-

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Kickapoo and the west branch, from the eastern side of the towns of Christiana, Viroqua and Franklin, and the western side of the town of Kickapoo. Geographically tlien, it may be said, in general terms, that the dividing ridge, or table land, runTiing north and south through the county, is situate…
History of Vernon County, Wisconsin, together with sketches of its towns, villages and townships, educational, civil, military and political history1884 · page 71Read the page →
Read the text

Kickapoo and the west branch, from the eastern side of the towns of Christiana, Viroqua and Franklin, and the western side of the town of Kickapoo. Geographically tlien, it may be said, in general terms, that the dividing ridge, or table land, runTiing north and south through the county, is situated about twenty milef' east of the Mississippi, and from six to eight miles

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

Kickapoo, 1854 to 1966

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1854Post officeThe Kickapoo post office opens
  3. 1864Post officeThe Sugar Grove post office opens
  4. 1887Post officeThe Manning post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1900Post officeThe Kickapoo post office closes
  7. 1900Post officeThe Manning post office closes
  8. 1902Post officeThe Sugar Grove post office closes
  9. 1966On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Kickapoo, decade by decade

Today1 recent
WIMap-doton-Kickapoo2005WIMap-doton-Kickapoo
On the map

Kickapoo on the map, 1966 to 1983

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Kickapoo. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Kickapoo on the 1966 USGS mapKickapoo on the 1983 USGS map1966Boaz 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 Kickapoo.

Famous people

Famous people close to Kickapoo

Nobody well known was born in Kickapoo itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Butch VigAmerican musician and record producer · b. 1955
C
Chris MulkeyAmerican actor · b. 1948
Mark C. LeeAmerican astronaut · b. 1952
James GillettAmerican politician · b. 1860
B
Bob WoodAmerican basketball player · b. 1921
Charles R. SavageAmerican politician · b. 1906
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

ClaytonIts storyB−SylvanIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLibertyIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townFranklinIts storyBViroqua2 historic placesA−

Questions about Kickapoo’s history

What year was Kickapoo founded?

The Kickapoo post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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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 Wikimedia Commons (1), 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.