More historic than 43% of U.S. towns · #229 of 362 in Wisconsin. What drives it
Most of Merton was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2000. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1980.
Founding year: the first Merton post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Merton’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Merton is more historic than 43% of U.S. towns, #229 of 362 in Wisconsin. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Merton’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 Merton’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.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.1 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Merton’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Merton yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Merton is a town in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States; before Wisconsin statehood, it was called Warren. The population was 8,277 at the 2020 census. The town surrounds the villages of Chenequa and Merton. The unincorporated communities of Camp Whitcomb, Monches, and North Lake are in the town and the unincorporated community of Stone Bank is partially in the town. The pioneer Swedish-American settlement of New Upsala was also at one time located within Merton.
Its first post office opened in 1847. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 3,346 to 3,441 (+3%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Merton in 1880
Passages that mention Merton, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The History of Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources1880 · page 750Read the page →
Read the text
Merton Village. — William Odell was the first settler here, in 1840, and built the first house. He entered the east half of the northeast quarter of Section 24, and his brother Austin claimed the west half of the same quarter soon after. The land claimed by Austin fell into the hands of John Metcalf, of Oconomowoc, in 1841. Dr. Hill came on and jumped the north half of Metcalf s land, and sold it to Huntington and Kent in 1844, who built a saw-mill, which stood a little northeast of the present mill. In 1846, Henry Shears and George Trowbridge bought the property, and in 1847 built the present grist-mill. The sawmill was demolished about 1855. The grist-mill is now owned by Phillip Snyder. J. Finch
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The History of Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources1880 · page 553Read the page →
Read the text
Other Murders. — The second murder in the county was committed in the town of Merton on the 25th of June, 1850, when William Flanagan shot Francis Horel with a "horse-pistol." The shot did not result fatally at once, Horel lingering until July 5 following, or ten days, during which time he appeared before Vernon Tichenor and made a sworn ante-mortem statement, charging the murder upon Flanagan and reciting all the details of the shooting. The grand jury, at the November term of court, 1850, found a true bill of indictment against Flanagan for murder in the second degree, and Judge Hubbell, March 20, 1851, sentenced him to hard labor in the State Prison for five years. The case was thoroughly contested by the
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.
By decade
Merton, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Merton post office opened in 1847, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Merton rank for history?
Merton is more historic than 43% of U.S. towns, #229 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.
How old are the homes in Merton?
6% of Merton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.1 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 2000.
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), 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 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.
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