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History · Morse

13% of Morse’s homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Copper Falls State Park. Below: maps from 1953 on and the census since 1900.

1on the National Register
13%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Morse’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Morse are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost two-thirds of its people between 1900 and 1910, then more than doubled.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Morse, and 3 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Morse’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Morse’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Morse, census by census

02004006008001,00019001920194019601980200020201,023 in 1900Low: 193

Lost two-thirds of its people between 1900 and 1910, then more than doubled.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Morse’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Another post office, Cayuga, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
BallouCayugaFoster Junction
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Morse
CayugaSaint John's Lutheran

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story so far

Morse, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Morse yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Morse is a town in Ashland County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 499 at the 2020 census. The unincorporated communities of Ballou, Cayuga, Foster Junction, and Penokee are located in the town.

Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 493 in 2010, 499 in 2020.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Morse, 1900 to 1956

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 20th century
  2. 1900CensusPopulation peaks at 1,023
  3. 1906Post officeThe Cayuga post office opens
  4. 1929BuiltCopper Falls State Park is built
  5. 1953On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1956Post officeThe Cayuga post office closes
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Morse on the map, 1953 to 1980

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Morse. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Morse on the 1953 USGS mapMorse on the 1980 USGS map1953Ashland sheet · 1:250,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Morse.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Morse

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
5
each building in a district counts
first listed
2005
Copper Falls State Park
Copper Falls State Park, built 1929
Sites

Architectural styles listings

Rustic1
Copper Falls State ParkRustic · Built 1929

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Morse

Nobody well known was born in Morse itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
J
John SzarkowskiAmerican curator · b. 1925
Jennifer OuelletteAmerican science writer · b. 1964
Robin GreenfieldAmerican activist and adventurer · b. 1986
J
John GordonAmerican curler · b. 1958
B
Bob BlakeAmerican ice hockey player · b. 1914
Paul AlfonsiAmerican politician · b. 1908
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

AshlandIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAndersonIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMellen1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGordonIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMarengoIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSanbornIts storyC−

Questions about Morse’s history

What is on the National Register in Morse?

One place: the Copper Falls State Park (listed 2005).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.