Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1900 on and the census since 1880.
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 Mount Hope’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Mount Hope. 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 Mount Hope.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Mount Hope yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Mount Hope is a village in Grant County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 215 at the 2020 census. The village is located within the Town of Mount Hope.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 300 to 282 (-6%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Mount Hope, cut from the printed page as they were published.
As has been seen, the town of Patch Grove was created by the Board of Supervisors at the special session held in 1848, and included, besides the present township of Patch Grove, the present township of Mount Hope, Woodman, Millville, Wyaiusing, and the greater part of the present township of Bloomington. The first township election was held at the old schoolhouse, noticed as still standing in the north part of the village, April 3, 1849. At the town meeting held the same day Hiram Bronson was elected Moderator or Chairman, and Thomas Nagle, Clerk.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Alfred Bronson, a prominent pioneer of Crawford County. In 1837 he removed to Cassville and remained there a short time, when he again removed and opened a farm on the Military Road in what is now the town of Mount Hope. Here he built a comfortable double log cabin, which is still standing in tolerable preservation, a mile and a quarter west of the village of Mount Hope. He was planning to build a substantial stone house, but death frustrated his plans. He Digitized by v^ooQie
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The first settler within the limits of the present town of Mount Hope was the Hon. Thomas P. Burnett. As early as 1836, Mr. Burnett had entered the east half of the northeast and southeast quarters of Section 19, Township 6, Range 4 west. Other entries had added much to the originial purchase, and, in 1840, Mr. Burnett erected a double log cabin and began the task of improving his new farm. The spot chosen by him was enthusiastically spoken of as " one of the most lovely on the Military Road," that great thoroughfare of the Southwest. The place occu-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Millville was made a precinct in 1844 with the boundaries shown in the map on page 135; but in the reorganization of 1849 it was in¬ cluded in the town of Patch Grove. The town was organized in 1853, including the present town, the towns of Mount Hope and Wood¬ man, and the northern part of the present towns of Patch Grove and Wyalusing. In 1854 Wyalusing wascut off, in 1864, Woodman, and in 1865, Mount Hope, reducing the town of Millville to its present dimen¬ sions. Since that time the population has been: in 1865, 231; in
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Between 75 and 256 people in every census since 1880.
12 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Mount Hope’s Wikipedia page.
Another post office, Hermitage, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From 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), 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.
