Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 46% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: old-book passages.
The Oakfield post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Avoca (1848), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 46% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Oakfield is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull 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 Oakfield’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.
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 Oakfield’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Oakfield.
A post office called Oakfield has been in operation since 1850. The village was named for a grove of oak trees near the original town site.
On July 18, 1996, an F5 tornado ripped through the village, destroying 47 homes but killing no one.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Oakfield, cut from the printed page as they were published.
him. In the spring of 1856, he, with his mother, emigrated to Fond du Lac Co., Wis., and settled on a farm of 120 acres, in Sec. 31, town of Lamartine, which has since been his home, and where she died, in 1879 ; he now has a farm of 160 acres in Sec. 31, town of Lamartine, and 90 acres in Sees. 6 and 7, town of Oakfield. Sept. 25, 1867, he married Miss Leila, daughter of William D. and Almira Ash, of the town of Oakfield, Fond du Lac Co., but a native of Montgomery Co., N. Y., from which, she, with her parents, emigrated in 1848. One daughter and two sons have blessed their marriage — Katie, George and William R. They attend the M. E. Church at Lamartine.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The first village in the town of Oakfield was called Avoca, and was situated on Section 13, on the "old plank road." Here were opened the first mill and established the first post office. When the Rock River Valley Union Railway was put through the town the center of trade was transferred to the present site of Oakfield, one mile west of Avoca. It is one of the most pleasant inland hamlets in the county. From the residences on the hill. Fond du Lac, Lamartine, Mount Calvary Monastery, the whole sweep of Lake Winnebago and a stretch of thirty miles of hill and prairie can be seen, and the Ledge, only a few rods back of the village, is a resort of all pleasure parties in the vicinity.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The first post office was established at Avoca, one mile east of what is now the village of Oakfield, on Section 13. Isaac Orvis was the first Postmaster. Henry Cornell is the present Postmaster of Oakfield, as it has many years been called. The first mill was a saw-mill, built in 1844 by J. Allen. In 1851, Col. Henry Conklin built the first flouring mill, at a cost of $12,000, on the East Branch of Fond du Lac River, near the village of Avoca.
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.
Oakfield’s post office has been open since 1850. Another post office, Avoca, 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 Oakfield post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Oakfield is more historic than 46% 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.
26% of Oakfield’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 1963.
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 Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
