Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 52% of U.S. towns · #198 of 362 in Wisconsin. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Eagle River Stadium. Most of Lincoln was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1983. Below: maps from 1970 on and old-book passages.
More historic than 52% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lincoln is more historic than 52% of U.S. towns, #198 of 362 in Wisconsin. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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 Lincoln’s 3.7 sits near the middle of its state (63% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lincoln’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Lincoln yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Lincoln is a town in Vilas County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 2,659 at the 2020 census.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 2,423 to 2,659 (+10%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Lincoln, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Chorus: Yes! we love the name of Lincoln; Lincoln, good and true; Under God, he saved the nation; Saved for me, for you.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Song Keller's American Hymn (page 95) Short biographical sketch of Lincoln by an older pnpil, a patron of the school, or the teacher. Recitation Abraham Lincoln (page 59) To help make this recitation effective, a picture of Lincoln should be disyiayed.
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lincoln.
1970Eagle River East sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Lincoln.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Nobody well known was born in Lincoln itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Lincoln is more historic than 52% of U.S. towns, #198 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.
One place: the Eagle River Stadium (listed 1994).
9% of Lincoln’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.1 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1983.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
