Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 70% of U.S. towns · #124 of 362 in Wisconsin. What drives it
Most of Menomonee Falls was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1980. 21 places in town are on the National Register, among them six historic districts with 28 buildings between them. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1880.
The Menomonee Falls post office opened in 1843, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Marcy (1847) and Fussville (1864), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 70% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Menomonee Falls is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns, #124 of 362 in Wisconsin. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 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 Menomonee Falls’ 10.9 sits above most of its state (78% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 43 historic buildings outnumber those of 84% 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 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Menomonee Falls’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Menomonee Falls. 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 Menomonee Falls.
From Wikipedia’s history of Menomonee Falls.
The area that became Menomonee Falls was first inhabited by Native Americans, including the people of the Menominee and Chippewa tribes. The town of Menomonee was created in December 1839.
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.
Born herePeter J. Somers is born hereBuiltMiller-Davidson House is built
In the archiveMenomonee Falls, Waukesha County, Wisconsin. 1886BuiltMace, Garwin, Lime Kilns is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyBuiltAlbert R. Baer House is builtBuiltElizabeth Hoos House is built
In the archiveBirds eye view of Menomonee Falls, Wis
Born hereRichard Riehle is born here
Born hereJessica Szohr is born here2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 sheet.
1910Sheet 1 of 5Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Menomonee Falls’ page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 366 people in 1880 to 38,527 in 2020, more than tenfold.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Menomonee Falls’ Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Menomonee Falls’s post office has been open since 1843. Two other post offices 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 Menomonee Falls post office opened in 1843, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Menomonee Falls is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns, #124 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.
21 listings: 12 buildings, among them the Miller-Davidson House (listed 1973, the first), 6 historic districts with 28 contributing buildings, and 3 structures. 43 historic buildings in all.
5% of Menomonee Falls’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.6 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1980.
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), the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (10), the National Register of Historic Places (21), 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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