1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 2 buildings. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1899 on, and old-book passages.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Plover. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1899Wausau sheet · 1:125,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Plover.
The story so far
Plover, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Plover yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Plover is a town in Marathon County, Wisconsin, United States. It is part of the Wausau, Wisconsin Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 683 at the 2020 census. The unincorporated community of Hogarty is located partially in the town.
Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 689 in 2010, 683 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Plover in 1913
Passages that mention Plover, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Marathon County, Wisconsin1913 · page 575Read the page →
Read the text
The town is divided in four school districts with five schoolhouses, the fourth district being a joint district, part of it lying in the town of Plover and the town of Norrie. The new settlers in that town are making great headway in clearing up land and getting stock. In a few years this town will be as prosperous as any of the older towns.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Marathon County, Wisconsin1913 · page 63Read the page →
Read the text
"The locating of Fort Winnebago at the old Portage, between the Wisconsin river and Fox river, at the time of the Black Hawk war, was on the upper part of the Wisconsin river, started first settlements about 1832. The Menominee Indians held the country up as far as where the village of Plover now stands. To the north the Chippewas held the country, north of them, to Lake Superior. For the building of Fort Winnebago the first pine trees were cut and hewn on Pine Island, ten miles up the river from the location of the fort by Lieut. Jefferson Davis and a squad of soldiers. Zachary Taylor
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
Plover, 1881 to 1923
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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 the Library of Congress (4), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
Date?
Date?
Date?
Date?
