Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Poplar

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 · Poplar

Poplar’s post office opened in 1888, and 15% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1954 on and the census since 1920.

1888first post office
0on the National Register
15%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Poplar began

When was Poplar founded?

1888

The Poplar post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 357 in 19202020 census: 629138 years
Founding year: the first Poplar post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Poplar’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 Poplar are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Poplar’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Poplar’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

Poplar, in brief

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

Poplar is a village in Douglas County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 629 at the 2020 census, an increase from 603 at the 2010 census. U.S. Highway 2, County Road D, and County Road P are the main routes in the community.

Its first post office opened in 1888. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 603 to 629 (+4%).

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

Timeline

Poplar, 1888 to 1976

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1888Post officeThe Poplar post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1954On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1976Born hereTom Burke is born here
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

Poplar on the map, 1954 to 1980

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

Poplar on the 1954 USGS mapPoplar on the 1975 USGS mapPoplar on the 1980 USGS map1954Poplar 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 Poplar.

People over time

Poplar, census by census

0100200300400500600700192019401960198020002020Peak: 629

Between 357 and 629 people in every census since 1920.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

AmniconIts storyCMapleIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Poplar’s history

What year was Poplar founded?

The Poplar post office opened in 1888, 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 Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.