Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 64% of U.S. towns · #147 of 362 in Wisconsin. What drives it
7 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 25 buildings. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1894 on, and the census since 1880.
The Mount Horeb post office opened in 1861, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 64% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mount Horeb is more historic than 64% of U.S. towns, #147 of 362 in Wisconsin. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls 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 Mount Horeb’s 40.1 sits above most of its state (87% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 31 historic buildings outnumber those of 82% 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 Mount Horeb’s history is told.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1894Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Mount Horeb.
Mount Horeb is part of the ancestral territory of the Ho-Chunk nation. Beginning in 1829, the Ho-Chunk experienced pressure from European and American settlers as their land was opened for agriculture and lead mining. An 1829 treaty ceded the territory that would be the future site of Mount Horeb to the United States.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Mount Horeb, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Brigham as Postmaster, is now kept by Mr. Brackenwagen, at what is called "Blue Mound Post Office," where is now a store, owned by the Postmaster, and a blacksmith-shop, started by Tom Haney, before the remembrance of many of the inhabitants. The other post offic# is called "Mount Horeb." It was founded fifteen years ago, through the exertions of G. Wright, who named the office, and who was appointed the first Postmaster. The office was first kept by Mr. Rowly, as deputy, a mile east of the present location. The Postmasters havfe been, after Mr.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The Chicago & Northwestern Railroad traverses the town from east to west. It enters on Section 12, and, passing through near Mount Horeb and Blue Mound Post OflSces, goes out on Section 7. The first permanent American settler here, and the acknowledged first in the county, was Ebenezer Brigham, who made a claim on Sections 5 and 7 in 1828. Previous to this time, in company with a party of explorers, he visited the lead regions of Grant County, and then made up his mind to try his fortunes here in lead mining. When he came on for permanent settlement, he brought several yokes of cattle, and as a companion and brother adventurer, Jeremiah
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.
BuiltMt. Horeb Opera Block is built
In the archiveBelle Case La Follette in "votes for women" auto on main street, Mt. Horeb, WisconsinBuiltHoff Department Store is builtBuiltMount Horeb Public School is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveMustard jars at the Mount Horeb Mustard Museum in Wisconsin2 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Mount Horeb. 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 Horeb.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Mount Horeb’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 42 people in 1880 to 7,754 in 2020, more than tenfold.
14 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Mount Horeb’s Wikipedia page.
Mount Horeb’s post office has been open since 1861.
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.
The Mount Horeb post office opened in 1861, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Mount Horeb is more historic than 64% of U.S. towns, #147 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.
7 listings: 6 buildings, among them the Hoff Department Store (listed 1989, the first), and 1 historic district, the Main Street Historic District, with 25 contributing buildings. 31 historic buildings in all.
12% of Mount Horeb’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.0 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1993.
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 (5), the Library of Congress (3), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (7), Wikipedia, 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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