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History · Pepin

Pepin’s post office opened in 1857, and 25% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1932 on, and the census since 1890.

1857first post office
0on the National Register
25%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Pepin’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Pepin began

When was Pepin founded?

1857

The Pepin post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 369 in 18902020 census: 731169 years
Founding year: the first Pepin post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
The story

How Pepin came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Pepin.

Read it all →

By the mid-17th century, the French had begun to send expeditions into Wisconsin via the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River. King Louis XIII of France is believed to have granted a huge area of land in the Upper Mississippi River Valley to two brothers, Etiene Pepin de la Fond and Guillaume dit Tranchemontagne. Two of Guillaume’s sons, Pierre Pepin and Jean Pepin du Cardonnets, later explored and traded in this area, and their surname became attached to the lake, and ultimately to the village and the county.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Pepin, 1857 to 1980

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1857Post officeThe Pepin post office opens
  3. 1865In the archiveMaiden Rock, Lake Pepin, Wisconsin side
  4. 20th century
  5. 1932On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1980In the archiveReplica of "The Little House in the Big Woods" at the Laura Ingalls Wilder House
By decade

Pepin, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1860s5 items
Maiden Rock, Lake Pepin, Wisconsin side1865Maiden Rock, Lake Pepin, Wisconsin sideLake Pepin, Minnesota1865Lake Pepin, MinnesotaView in the Dalles of the St. Croix, Polk County, Minnesota1865View in the Dalles of the St. Croix, Polk County, Min…View in the Dalles of the St. Croix, , Polk County, Minnesota1865View in the Dalles of the St. Croix, , Polk County, M…Down River from Barn Bluff showing entrance to Red Wing1865Down River from Barn Bluff showing entrance to Red Wi…
1980s1 item
Replica of "The Little House in the Big Woods" at the Laura Ingalls Wilder House1980Replica of "The Little House in the Big Woods" at the…
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
On the map

Pepin on the map, 1932 to 1974

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

Pepin on the 1932 USGS mapPepin on the 1951 USGS mapPepin on the 1974 USGS map1932Wabasha sheet · 1:62,500

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

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.

Maiden Rock, Lake Pepin, Wisconsin side
Retake this viewMaiden Rock, Lake Pepin, Wisconsin side, 1865

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Pepin, census by census

02004006008001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 890

Between 369 and 890 people in every census since 1890.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Pepin’s Wikipedia page.

Help out

Finish Pepin’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewMaiden Rock, Lake Pepin, Wisconsin side: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Pepin’s history

What year was Pepin founded?

The Pepin post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 (1), the Library of Congress (5), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.