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History · Owen

Owen’s post office opened in 1898, and 25% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the Owen High School and the Woodland Hotel. Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1912 on and old-book passages.

1898first post office
2on the National Register
25%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
3famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Owen’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Owen began

When was Owen founded?

1898

The Owen post office opened in 1898, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 916128 years
Founding year: the first Owen post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Owen’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Owen’s homes were built before 1957.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Owen’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Owen’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewBird's eye view of Owen, Wis: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Owen came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Owen.

Read it all →

In 1880 the Wisconsin Central Railroad built its line through what would become Owen, on its way from Abbotsford to Chippewa Falls.

In 1893 the John S. Owen Company of Eau Claire managed to buy from J.D. Spaulding 400 square miles of virgin timber that ran from the current site of Owen north through Taylor County and into Rusk County. Near where the railroad crossed Brick Creek and that creek flowed into the Popple River, the company built a warehouse, a boarding house, and five log buildings clustered around the rail line. They dammed Brick Creek to make a mill pond and built a sawmill, a planing mill, and a company store. A one-room school was built in 1894. Early on, John's son Aloney moved to the settlement to oversee local operations.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Owen in 1908

Passages that mention Owen, cut from the printed page as they were published.

back in Greene County. Although the place was not platted until 1840, yet from the fact that a mill was erected here by Owen Davis in 1800, there was no doubt of somewhat of a settlement here before the plat was made. It received its name probably from the beautiful cliffs immediately west along th…
20th century history of Springfield, and Clark County, Ohio1908Read the page →
Read the text

back in Greene County. Although the place was not platted until 1840, yet from the fact that a mill was erected here by Owen Davis in 1800, there was no doubt of somewhat of a settlement here before the plat was made. It received its name probably from the beautiful cliffs immediately west along the Little Miami River. The

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.

Timeline

Owen, 1898 to 2000

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1898Post officeThe Owen post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1912In the archiveBird's eye view of Owen, Wis
  5. 1945Born hereBrian Brunkhorst is born here
  6. 1945Born herePaul Beyerl is born here
  7. 21st century
  8. 2000Born hereStephen Buchanan is born here
By decade

Owen, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s1 item
Bird's eye view of Owen, Wis1912Bird's eye view of Owen, Wis
1920s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today3 recent
Owen, Wisconsin2024Owen, WisconsinOwen High School2013Owen High SchoolWIMap-doton-Owen2004WIMap-doton-Owen
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Bird's eye view of Owen, Wis
Retake this viewBird's eye view of Owen, Wis, 1912

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Owen’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

2 historic places in Owen

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

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
2004
Owen High School
Owen High SchoolWoodland Hotel
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Prairie School1
Owen High SchoolPrairie School
Woodland HotelBuilding

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

Famous people

3 famous people were born in Owen

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
B
Brian BrunkhorstAmerican basketball player · b. 1945
P
Paul BeyerlAmerican Wiccan priest · b. 1945
S
Stephen BuchananAmerican wrestler · b. 2000
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

HoardIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLongwoodIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHixonIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGreen GroveIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Owen’s history

What year was Owen founded?

The Owen post office opened in 1898, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Owen?

Two places: the Owen High School (listed 2004) and the Woodland Hotel (2016).

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 Wikimedia Commons (4), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.