Founding year: the first Newark post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Newark’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Newark is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Newark’s overall grade.
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 Newark’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (28% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.2 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Newark’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Newark yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
The Town of Newark is located in Rock County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,510 at the 2020 census. The unincorporated community of Newark is located in the town.
Its first post office opened in 1848. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,541 to 1,510 (-2%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Newark, 1879–1908
Passages that mention Newark, cut from the printed page as they were published.
One very unusual oblong mound is on the farm of Nels Chrispenson on section 14 of the town of Newark. The mound is unusual in this particular, that it is the only one in the township, that it is far away from any stream, that there are no similar structures nearer than Afton or Beloit, that with the exception of those in the town of Porter there are no other mounds in the western part of the county, and that there is no evidence of Indian occupation nearer than a possible camp site on section 19
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
brush hut, which they covered with long grass. This made a good sleeping room until the big house was up and the shake roof on. By the middle of November the first house in the town of Newark was finished and Gravdal and Hallan moved in with their families. Mr. Hallan married ]\[argit Knudsdatter Nostrud after they came to Jefi'erson Prairie late in the fall. Their wedding had to wait until the cold formed ice bridges on which they crossed the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The history of Rock County, Wisconsin1879 · page 322Read the page →
Read the text
Coon Creek rises in the town of Plymouth, runs south and southeasterly, fed by numerous small tributaries, through the town of Newark, and empties into Sugar River in the State of Illinois. The larger part of Lake Koshkonong lies in Jefferson County, but its southern extremity, or foot, extends into Rock County, occupying an area of about 1,000 acres in Sections 5, 6 and 7, in the town of Milton. Other lakes are to be found in the county, but they are all small — the largest will not exceed a mile in length. They lie only in the northern tier of towns. Big Spring Lake is on Section 27, in the town of Porter, and Little Spring Lake between Sections
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The history of Rock County, Wisconsin1879 · page 502Read the page →
Read the text
By an act of the Territorial Legislature, approved February 11, 1847, Avon was set apart and named, and a "town meeting" directed to be held pn the first Tuesday of April, 1848, at the house of Willian Crippen. Previous to the erection of Avon as a separate and distinct town, its territory formed a portion of the town of Newark. Among the names of the early settlers may be mentioned Joseph Kinney, Jr., Joseph Huntley, William Crippen, H. Beales, W. F. Thompson, William Grimes and Joseph Watson. Some of the pioneers of this town were Norwegians. In a beautiful valley in the northeast part of Avon, which they christened Luther Valley, they built a church in 1847, and, a few years after, laid out a village, calling it
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.
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.
The Newark post office opened in 1848, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Newark rank for history?
Newark is more historic than 61% 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.
How old are the homes in Newark?
19% of Newark’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 1971.
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 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.
![brush hut, which they covered with long grass. This made a good sleeping room until the big house was up and the shake roof on. By the middle of November the first house in the town of Newark was finished and Gravdal and Hallan moved in with their families. Mr. Hallan married ]\[argit Knudsdatter N…](https://images.townratings.com/story/35511/bk-a1857b625c41a513-l.jpg)
