Founding year: the first Little Wolf post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Little Wolf’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Little Wolf is more historic than 43% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Little Wolf’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 Little Wolf’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (28% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% 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 (±4.9 points). 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 Little Wolf’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The town was first settled by William Goldberg in 1848, who was joined by George E. and J.P. More in 1849, and James and Peter Meiklejohn in 1850. The first settlements straddled the river on the southern border of the township. The town was at first known as Centerville, and was organized on March 5, 1852. On November 15, 1854, the town changed its name to Little Wolf. After Jack Brickley built the first bridge across the river in 1858, it was also known as Brickley Bridge, but the name Little Wolf stuck after A. P. Jones established a new town post office in January 1859.
Passages that mention Little Wolf, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Waupaca county, Wisconsin1890 · page 169Read the page →
Read the text
In 1887, A. W. Whitcomb built a saw mill and opened a store at Big Falls, on the Little Wolf River, in Section 26, Township 25 north. Range 11 east, (which township was a part of Helvetia until set off into the independent Town of Wyoming, by the County Board at the annual meeting in November, 1890.)
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Waupaca county, Wisconsin1890 · page 127Read the page →
Read the text
The Town of Union consists of Township 24, Range 13. It is bounded on the north by the Town of Dupont, on the east by Bear Creek, on the south by Little Wolf, and on the west by Helvetia. The first settlement was made by Isaac Ames, in the Fall of 1855.
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
Little Wolf, 1859 to 1969
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Little Wolf post office opened in 1859, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Little Wolf rank for history?
Little Wolf is more historic than 43% 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.
How old are the homes in Little Wolf?
22% of Little Wolf’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.9 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1982.
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 Wikipedia, 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.
