Founding year: the first Montello post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Montello’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Montello is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Montello’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 Montello’s 207 sits above most of its state (98% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 29 historic buildings outnumber those of 81% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.0 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 Montello’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
The story so far
Montello, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Montello yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Montello is a city in and the county seat of Marquette County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,448 at the 2020 census. The Fox River flows through the city. Montello is home to the largest tree in Wisconsin. A notable attraction in the city is the former granite quarry, which has been transformed into a park with several waterfalls. The Montello post office was established in 1850, and still operates today with the zip code 53949.
Its first post office opened in 1850. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,495 to 1,448 (-3%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Montello, 1850 to 1933
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Montello’s history
What year was Montello founded?
The Montello post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Montello rank for history?
Montello is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns. 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 Montello?
4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Marquette County Courthouse and Marquette County Sheriff's Office and Jail (listed 1982, the first), and 1 historic district, the Montello Commercial Historic District, with 22 contributing buildings. 29 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Montello?
28% of Montello’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.0 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1971.
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), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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.
1933
1933