Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 46% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: old-book passages.
The Marion post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Perry's Mill (1872), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 46% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Marion is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull 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 Marion’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.
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 →
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 Marion’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Marion.
The Marion Post Office has been serving the community since its establishment in 1880. The city was named for Francis Marion, an officer during the American Revolution.
Marion is home to a sizeable Amish community, who settled there in 1995. As of 2024, the town had 575 Amish residents divided among five church districts.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Marion, cut from the printed page as they were published.
place the road was to strike was Clintonville, and one day a carriage load of railroad officials drove into town. They looked the town over, (it didn't take them long, either), and made inquiries regarding the country between here and Marion. The residents referred them continually to Bennett, until their curiosity was aroused, and the redoubtable Chet. was sent for. diet, appeared along in the afternoon, attired in a very primitive costume, and wanted to know what was up. The railroad men were at first in-
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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Marion’s post office has been open since 1880. Another post office, Perry's Mill, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Marion post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Marion is more historic than 46% 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.
25% of Marion’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.9 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1965.
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 (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
2009
2009
2009
2009
2009
2009