The Marcellon post office opened in 1847, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Bellefountain (1849), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 1,140179 years
How historic is Marcellon?
A−
More historic than 77% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Marcellon post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Marcellon’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Marcellon is more historic than 77% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Marcellon’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 Marcellon’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 B− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±13.0 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 Marcellon’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 Marcellon yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Marcellon is a town in Columbia County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,140 at the 2020 census. The unincorporated community of Belle Fountain is located in the town.
Its first post office opened in 1847. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 1,102 to 1,140 (+3%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Marcellon in 1880
Passages that mention Marcellon, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The history of Columbia county, Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement ..1880 · page 947Read the page →
Read the text
White, w;is an eminent physician and surgeon, and had a reputation second to none in the State; he was the father of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, of Western New York, located in Herkimer Co., and had a more extensive personal acquaintance than any other medical man in the State. Dr. Colman came West in 1848, and located in the village of Marcellon April 1, 1849; he received his diploma in 1850, at Rush Medical College of Chicago; he remained in Marcellon till 1857, then wont to Pardeeville, whore he practiced about twenty years, then located on his farm in the town of Marcellon in 1877, where ho continues to practice his profession, his farm being carried on by his son. He was married, April 23, 1851, in Marcellon, to Miss Kate Sheffield, who was born Oct. 3, 1831, in Warren Co., N. Y.,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The history of Columbia county, Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement ..1880 · page 309Read the page →
Read the text
The Huronian appears in the quartzite ridges of the town of Caledonia, which, uniting at tlieir eastern extremities form a bold point around which the Wisconsin is forced to find its way in a wide bow. The Huronian also rises to the surfiice on Section 7, of the town of Marcellon, where are low knobs of quartz-porphyry. The quartzite and quartz-porphyry have a tliickness measured by thousands of feet, are folded and tilted, and have all the more recent formations placed upon them unconformably. The Potsdam sandstone, eight hundred to one thousand feet thick, underlies the whole of the county, except where the Huronian appears, coming to the surface over all the lower levels along the Wisconsin and its tributaries, besides forming
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.
The Marcellon post office opened in 1847, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Marcellon rank for history?
Marcellon is more historic than 77% 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 Marcellon?
45% of Marcellon’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±13.0 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1969.
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 (3), 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.
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