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History · New Hope

25% of New Hope’s homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the New Hope Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church and Cemetery. Below: maps from 1969 on.

1on the National Register
25%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about New Hope’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 New Hope are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s New Hope, and 2 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start New Hope’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how New Hope’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
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Peru
1882–1907
Garfield
1884–1907
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
GarfieldPeru
Gone or out of use
Malloy SchoolschoolRinehart Schoolschool
1cemetery inside New Hope
Nelsonville Lutheran

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

The story so far

New Hope, in brief

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

New Hope is a town in Portage County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 711 at the 2020 census. The unincorporated communities of New Hope, Garfield, and Peru are located in the town.

Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 718 in 2010, 711 in 2020.

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

Timeline

New Hope, 1882 to 1969

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1882Post officeThe Peru post office opens
  3. 1884Post officeThe Garfield post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1907Post officeThe Peru post office closes
  6. 1907Post officeThe Garfield post office closes
  7. 1931Born hereLowell C. Kilday is born here
  8. 1969On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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.
Add from your album
On the map

New Hope on the map, 1969 to 1984

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

New Hope on the 1969 USGS mapNew Hope on the 1984 USGS map1969New Hope sheet · 1:24,000

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

On the National Register

1 historic place in New Hope

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
2019
New Hope Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church …
New Hope Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church and Cemetery
Buildings
All 1 listings
New Hope Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church and CemeteryBuilding · listed 2019

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

IolaIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAlbanIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAmherstIts storyB−StocktonIts storyC

Questions about New Hope’s history

What is on the National Register in New Hope?

One place: the New Hope Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church and Cemetery (listed 2019).

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), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.