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History · Potter

Potter’s post office opened in 1883, and 39% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1954 on and the census since 1990.

1883first post office
0on the National Register
39%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Potter began

When was Potter founded?

1883

The Potter post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Potter's Mills (1869), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 252 in 19902020 census: 244143 years
Founding year: the first Potter post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Potter’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 Potter are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Potter’s homes were built before 1956.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Potter’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Potter came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Potter.

Read it all →

Potter was established near a Native American village along the Manitowoc River. It was originally named Muskratville because of the large number of muskrats that lived in the river and were trapped for their fur. American Civil War Captain Orin R. Potter settled in Potter in 1859 and established a feed mill. That same year he renamed the village Potter Mills, which was later shortened to Potter.

The village celebrated its 150th anniversary on July 19, 2009, with the second parade in the village's history. The first parade was a 1907 "Medicine man parade." Five of Potter's great-great grandchildren attended the parade.

Chapters150 years celebration

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Potter, 1869 to 1954

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1869Post officeThe Potter's Mills post office opens
  3. 1883Post officeThe Potter's Mills post office closes
  4. 1883Post officeThe Potter post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1954On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Potter, decade by decade

Today2 recent
PotterWisconsinWelcomeSign2006PotterWisconsinWelcomeSignPotter Wisconsin2006Potter Wisconsin
On the map

Potter on the map, 1954 to 1993

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

Potter on the 1954 USGS mapPotter on the 1974 USGS mapPotter on the 1993 USGS map1954Chilton 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 Potter.

People over time

Potter, census by census

010020020002020Peak: 253

Between 223 and 253 people in every census since 1990.

4 censuses, 1990–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Potter’s post office has been open since 1883. Another post office, Potter's Mills, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Potter's Mills
1869–1883
Potter
1883–today
18601940today

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

Questions about Potter’s history

What year was Potter founded?

The Potter post office opened in 1883, 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 (2), 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.