Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 58% of U.S. towns · #170 of 362 in Wisconsin. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Benjamin Boorman House and the Juneau County Courthouse. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1894 on, and the census since 1870.
The Mauston post office opened in 1859, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Maughs Mills (1854), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 58% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mauston is more historic than 58% of U.S. towns, #170 of 362 in Wisconsin. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds 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 Mauston’s 4.7 sits above most of its state (65% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% 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.
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.
1894Sheet 1 of 4Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Mauston. 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 Mauston.
From Wikipedia’s history of Mauston.
Mauston was founded by Milton M. Maughs. The town was originally named Maughs Town, after him. The town's beginning was based on the lumber industry of early Wisconsin. The history of Mauston is currently preserved in the Benjamin Boorman House on Union Street.
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.
BuiltBenjamin Boorman House is built
Born hereOrland Steen Loomis is born here
In the archiveMauston Winter river
In the archiveCoon Rock
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
BuiltJuneau County Courthouse is built
Born hereKelly Bires is born here2 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Mauston’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Between 952 and 4,423 people in every census since 1870.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Mauston’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Mauston’s post office has been open since 1859. Another post office, Maughs Mills, 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).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Mauston post office opened in 1859, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Mauston is more historic than 58% of U.S. towns, #170 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.
Two places: the Benjamin Boorman House (listed 1976) and the Juneau County Courthouse (1982).
17% of Mauston’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.3 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1969.
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 (3), the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.
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1899
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