Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Plum Lake

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Plum Lake

12% of Plum Lake’s homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Stone, Ben and Margaret, Boathouse. Below: maps from 1981 on.

1on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Plum Lake’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Plum Lake are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Plum Lake’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Plum Lake, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Plum Lake yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Plum Lake is a town in Vilas County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 553 at the 2020 census. The census-designated place of Sayner and the unincorporated community of Star Lake are located in the town.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 491 to 553 (+13%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Plum Lake, 1895 to 1995

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1895Post officeThe Starlake post office opens
  3. 1898Post officeThe Sayner post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1928BuiltStone, Ben and Margaret, Boathouse is built
  6. 1981On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1995Post officeThe Starlake post office closes
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Plum Lake on the map, 1981 to 1990

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

Plum Lake on the 1981 USGS mapPlum Lake on the 1990 USGS map1981White Sand Lake sheet · 1:24,000

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

On the National Register

1 historic place in Plum Lake

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2008
Stone, Ben and Margaret, Boathouse
Stone, Ben and Margaret, Boathouse, built 1928
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Late 19th and Early 20th Century American Movements1
Craftsman1
All 1 listings
Stone, Ben and Margaret, BoathouseBuilding · listed 2008

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Plum Lake

Nobody well known was born in Plum Lake itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
D
Dale WassermanAmerican playwright · b. 1914
J
Justin Orvel SchmidtAmerican entomologist · b. 1947
Craig LudwigAmerican ice hockey player · b. 1961
Rob NilssonAmerican film director · b. 1939
Gerald J. BoileauAmerican politician · b. 1900
K
Karen BurtonAmerican swimmer · b. 1962
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and old corners

Another post office, Starlake, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Starlake
1895–1995
Sayner
1898–today
18901960today
Hamlets and corners on the map
SaynerStar Lake

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Land O'LakesIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBoulder JunctionIts storyC−ConoverIts storyCCloverlandIts storyCSt. Germain1 historic placeC−SaynerIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Plum Lake’s history

What is on the National Register in Plum Lake?

One place: the Stone, Ben and Margaret, Boathouse (listed 2008).

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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.