Mequon dates to 1957, and 11 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 29% of U.S. towns · #300 of 362 in Wisconsin. What drives it
Most of Mequon was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1984. Below: maps from 1892 on and the census since 1940.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1853.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Mequon’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mequon is more historic than 29% of U.S. towns, #300 of 362 in Wisconsin. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Mequon’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 Mequon’s 7.9 sits above most of its state (72% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 20 historic buildings outnumber those of 79% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1957.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to B. The pre-1940 share (±1.5 points) is firm at this size.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Mequon’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The area was originally inhabited by Native Americans, including the Menominee, Potawatomi, and Sauk people. In the early 19th century, the Potawatomi had a village in present-day Thiensville located on Pigeon Creek, north of Freistadt Road. In 1832, the Menominee surrendered the land between the Milwaukee River and Lake Michigan to the United States Federal Government through the Treaty of Washington. The Potawatomi surrendered the area of Mequon west of the Milwaukee River in 1833 through the 1833 Treaty of Chicago, which (after being ratified in 1835) required them to leave the area by 1838. While many Native people moved west of the Mississippi River to Kansas, some chose to remain, and were referred to as "strolling Potawatomi" in contemporary documents because many of them were migrants who subsisted by squatting on their ancestral lands, which were now owned by white settlers. Ev…
In 1957, according to Wikidata. Mequon’s post office opened in 1853, and the census of 1940 counted 3,068 people here.
How does Mequon rank for history?
Mequon is more historic than 29% of U.S. towns, #300 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.
What is on the National Register in Mequon?
11 listings: 10 buildings, among them the Jonathan Clark House (listed 1982, the first), and 1 site. 20 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Mequon?
5% of Mequon’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.5 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1984.
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 (11), 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
