Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 65% of U.S. towns. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district. Below: maps from 1960 on and old-book passages.
The Nasewaupee post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Stokes (1883) and Hainesville (1896), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 65% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Nasewaupee is more historic than 65% of U.S. towns. 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 Nasewaupee’s 23.9 sits above most of its state (84% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 4 listings outnumber those of 68% 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 Nasewaupee’s history is told.
Nasewaupee had its own post office from 1858 to 1862. Two 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).
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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Nasewaupee.
The town was formed in 1859 and was named after a Menominee chief who lived there, though the Menominee word "Nasewaupee" itself refers to early dawn, or the time before sunrise.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Nasewaupee, cut from the printed page as they were published.
On the petition of E. S. Fuller, the County Board, at the November meeting, 1859, set off from the west part of the town of Otumba, under the name of Nasewaupee. The town also included Basin Island, town 28, range 24. The first town meeting was held at the house of Elijah S. Fuller, first Tuesday in April, 1860.
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.
BuiltPotawatomi State Park Observation Tower is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Nasewaupee. 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 Nasewaupee.
Nobody well known was born in Nasewaupee itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Nasewaupee post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Nasewaupee is more historic than 65% 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.
4 listings: 1 building, among them the Sherwood Point Light Station (listed 1984, the first), 1 historic district, the Bullhead Point Historical and Archeological District,, 1 site, and 1 structure.
17% of Nasewaupee’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.2 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1978.
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), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (4), Wikipedia, 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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