Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 88% of U.S. towns · #45 of 362 in Wisconsin. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register. Below: maps from 1893 on and old-book passages.
More historic than 88% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Linn is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns, #45 of 362 in Wisconsin. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
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 Linn’s 18.5 sits above most of its state (82% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 5 historic buildings outnumber those of 70% 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 Linn’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Linn. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Linn.
Another post office, Linton, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Linn yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Linn is a town in Walworth County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 2,687 at the 2020 census. The unincorporated communities of Linton and Zenda are located within the town.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 2,383 to 2,687 (+13%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Linn, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Bloomfield is the extreme southeastern town in Walworth County, and is bounded north by the town of Lyons ; south by the town of Richmond, Illinois ; east by the town of Wheatland, Kenosha County ; and west by the town of Linn. It contains thirty-six square miles of varied and diversified country, well watered, and admirably adapted to agricultural pursuits, Bloom Prairie, in the southwestern portion of the town, being considered the richest land in the county.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
some years. He was married to his now bereaved companion during the year 1833, in Springfield N. Y., and five years later, 1838, during the month of May first arrived in Geneva. During that year he assisted in erecting the first grist mill in the place. He made a claim in what is now the town of Linn, and purchased the land when it came into market. Here he followed agricultural pursuits until age and infirmity unfitted him for arduous labor. He left a widow, a son and two daughters, and an entire community to mourn his demise.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereWallace Ingalls is born here
BuiltBonnie Brae is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
BuiltRiviera, The is builtThe 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.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Linn is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns, #45 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.
4 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Bonnie Brae (listed 1986, the first). 5 historic buildings in all.
23% of Linn’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.4 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1970.
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 Wikimedia Commons (4), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (4), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
2024
2016
2011
2005