Founding year: the first Pardeeville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Pardeeville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pardeeville is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Pardeeville’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 Pardeeville’s 17.9 sits above most of its state (81% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.6 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 Pardeeville’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 Pardeeville yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Pardeeville is a village in Columbia County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 2,074 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Madison, Wisconsin metropolitan area.
Its first post office opened in 1849. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 2,115 in 2010, 2,074 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Pardeeville in 1880
Passages that mention Pardeeville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The history of Columbia county, Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement ..1880 · page 870Read the page →
Read the text
The Columbus Democrat, December, 1869, has the following to say of Wyocena: " Wyocena is the remains of a once thriving and increasing village assassinated by the building of the old La Crosse Railroad. Seventeen years ago, it contained five stores doing a good trade. Now it has two. Pardeeville was erected upon its decadence ; then the new division of the railroad was laid toward Portage ; the seat of commerce again shifted ; the glory of Pardeeville departed, and Rio was built upon its ruins. Wyocena is overgrown with the thin moss of the Western antiquity, and is ancient in appearance, as is permitted to any village of less age than a quarter of a century. It has a good schoolhouse, a tolerably
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The history of Columbia county, Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement ..1880 · page 863Read the page →
Read the text
The Fox River enters the town from Marcellon on Section 3, and runs southwest to the village of Pardeeville, where it forms a good mill site, thence northwest, emptying into Swan Lake. The north branch of Duck Creek enters the town from the east, on Section 13, thence west and southwest until near the east line of Section 21, where it forms a junction with the south branch, which enters the town from the east on Section 24, running in a nearly west course to the junction. From the junction the creek ruus nearly west through the town.
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.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Pardeeville’s history
What year was Pardeeville founded?
The Pardeeville post office opened in 1849, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Pardeeville rank for history?
Pardeeville is more historic than 88% 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.
What is on the National Register in Pardeeville?
Three places: the Pardeeville Presbyterian Church (listed 1980), the Cox, Angie Williams, Library (1990) and the Bellmont Hotel (1993).
How old are the homes in Pardeeville?
25% of Pardeeville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.6 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1967.
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 (1), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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.
2004