Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 55% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1954 on and old-book passages.
The Morrison post office opened in 1859, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Wayside (1867), Stark (1880) and Lark (1893), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 55% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Morrison is more historic than 55% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull 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 Morrison’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.
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 first neighbors to add old photos shape how Morrison’s history is told.
Morrison had its own post office from 1859 to 1921. Three 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).
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Morrison yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Morrison is a town in Brown County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 1,689 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1859. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 1,599 to 1,689 (+6%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Morrison, cut from the printed page as they were published.
buildings have taken the place of the crude structures he first put up, and various other improvements have been added from time to time until it is now one of the prosperous farms of the county. When Mr. Boeder first came' to Morrison township, there were but few roads and a trip to Manitowoc, the nearest trading post at that time, involved considerable traveling, as it was necessary to drive around the hills and seek fordable places in crossing the streams, as there were no bridges. It was the day of ox teams and that laborious farming which prevailed prior
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereTimothy Burke is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Morrison. 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 Morrison.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Morrison post office opened in 1859, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Morrison is more historic than 55% 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.
44% of Morrison’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.2 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1963.
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 (2), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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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