Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1887.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Ladysmith’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ladysmith is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns, #180 of 362 in Wisconsin. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Ladysmith’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 Ladysmith’s 3.1 sits near the middle of its state (62% 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 B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.5 points). Two sources give 1885.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Ladysmith’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Ladysmith’s post office has been open since 1900. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Corbett
1887–1890
Warner
1890–1900
Ladysmith
1900–today
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Highway Eight Trailer Court
Gone or out of use
Free Methodist ChurchchurchMeadow Brook SchoolschoolMount Senario CollegeschoolSaint Johns English Lutheran ChurchchurchWest Side Public Schoolschool
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Ladysmith
Old LadysmithServants of Mary
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Every building
Ladysmith, building by building, 1902–1914
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.
Native Americans passed up and down the Flambeau River for thousands of years, fishing and hunting through the forest that would become Ladysmith. The Ojibwe were the last group to dominate the area, before the U.S. forced them to cede their land rights to most of northern Wisconsin in the White Pine Treaty of 1837. They called the area that would become Ladysmith Gakaabikijiwanan - "waterfalls overflowing the rocks."
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.
In 1885, according to Wikidata. Ladysmith’s post office opened in 1887, and the census of 1910 counted 2,352 people here.
How does Ladysmith rank for history?
Ladysmith is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns, #180 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 Ladysmith?
One place: the State Bank of Ladysmith (listed 1980).
How old are the homes in Ladysmith?
18% of Ladysmith’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.5 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 (4), the Library of Congress (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 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1909
1912
2009
