Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 77% of U.S. towns · #96 of 362 in Wisconsin. What drives it
16 places in town are on the National Register, among them five historic districts with 156 buildings between them. Below: maps from 1884 on and the census since 1880.
The Marshfield post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Mannville (1875), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 77% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Marshfield is more historic than 77% of U.S. towns, #96 of 362 in Wisconsin. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls 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 Marshfield’s 88.8 sits above most of its state (94% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 166 historic buildings outnumber those of 92% 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 Marshfield’s history is told.
The 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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Marshfield.
In 1851 and 1853, when the area was still forested, surveyors working for the U.S. government marked all the section corners in the 6 by 6 miles (9.7 by 9.7 km) square which now includes Marshfield, Hewitt, and Cameron, working on foot with compass and chain. When done, the deputy surveyor filed this general description:
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltGov. William H. Upham House is builtBuiltWahle-Laird House is builtBuiltCentral Wisconsin State Fair Round Barn is builtBuiltPurdy, Willard D., Junior High and Vocational School is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereMark Tauscher is born hereWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Marshfield. 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 Marshfield.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1884Sheet 1 of 4Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Between 669 and 19,291 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Marshfield’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Marshfield’s post office has been open since 1873. Another post office, Mannville, 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 Marshfield post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Marshfield is more historic than 77% of U.S. towns, #96 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.
16 listings: 9 buildings, among them the Gov. William H. Upham House (listed 1976, the first), 5 historic districts with 156 contributing buildings, and 2 structures. 166 historic buildings in all.
20% of Marshfield’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.8 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1973.
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 Wikidata (6), the National Register of Historic Places (16), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
