Founding year: the first Luck post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Luck’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Luck is more historic than 36% 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 Luck’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 Luck’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 C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.2 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 Luck’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Luck was originally two settlements, Luck on Big Butternut Lake, and West Denmark further west, founded by Danish immigrants in 1869 on the north and west shores of Little Butternut Lake and extending out a few miles. The two settlements knew it was impractical to remain separate entities, but disagreed about which would be the center of town. The railroad settled the issue when it laid tracks near the eastern settlement. Luck was not incorporated until 1905, several years later than most surrounding villages. Luck was once home to the Duncan Toys Company Yo-Yo factory headquarters.
The Luck post office opened in 1869, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Luck rank for history?
Luck is more historic than 36% 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 Luck?
16% of Luck’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.2 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1973.
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, 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.