Most of Lake Tomahawk was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1983. 1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 10 buildings. Below: maps from 1966 on.
Founding year: the first Lake Tomahawk post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Lake Tomahawk’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lake Tomahawk is more historic than 34% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Lake Tomahawk’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 Lake Tomahawk’s 88.1 sits above most of its state (94% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 10 historic buildings outnumber those of 76% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to B. The pre-1940 share (±2.8 points) is firm at this size. 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 Lake Tomahawk’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Lake Tomahawk yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Lake Tomahawk is a town in Oneida County, Wisconsin, United States, named for the adjacent freshwater lake of the same name. The population was 1,155 at the 2020 census. The census-designated place of Lake Tomahawk and the unincorporated community of Sunflower are located in the town.
Its first post office opened in 1928. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 1,043 to 1,155 (+11%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lake Tomahawk. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1966Minocqua 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 Lake Tomahawk.
On the National Register
1 listing protects 10 historic buildings
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
The Lake Tomahawk post office opened in 1928, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Lake Tomahawk rank for history?
Lake Tomahawk is more historic than 34% of U.S. towns. 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 Lake Tomahawk?
One place: the Tomahawk Lake Camp Historic District (listed 1992).
How old are the homes in Lake Tomahawk?
4% of Lake Tomahawk’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.8 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1983.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
