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History · Prairie Farm

Prairie Farm’s post office opened in 1870, and 19% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1949 on and the census since 1880.

1870first post office
0on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Prairie Farm began

When was Prairie Farm founded?

1870

The Prairie Farm post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 80 in 18802020 census: 494156 years
Founding year: the first Prairie Farm post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Prairie Farm’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 Prairie Farm are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Prairie Farm’s homes were built before 1964.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Prairie Farm’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Prairie Farm’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 so far

Prairie Farm, in brief

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

Prairie Farm is a village in Barron County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 494 at the 2020 census. The village is located within the Town of Prairie Farm, on eastern shore of the Prairie Farm Flowage, a reservoir on the Hay River.

Its first post office opened in 1870. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 473 to 494 (+4%).

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

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.
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On the map

Prairie Farm on the map, 1949 to 1975

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

Prairie Farm on the 1949 USGS mapPrairie Farm on the 1951 USGS mapPrairie Farm on the 1975 USGS map1949Ridgeland 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 Prairie Farm.

People over time

Prairie Farm, census by census

010020030040050018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 508

Between 80 and 508 people in every census since 1880.

13 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Prairie Farm

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

See all →
Gaylord NelsonAmerican politician · b. 1916
Madilyn BaileyAmerican singer and songwriter · b. 1992
Andy PafkoBaseball player · b. 1921
Charles C. McDonaldUnited States Air Force general · b. 1933
Ben Hur LampmanU.S. newspaper editor, essayist, short story wr… · b. 1886
A
Al KircherAmerican football player · b. 1910

Questions about Prairie Farm’s history

What year was Prairie Farm founded?

The Prairie Farm post office opened in 1870, 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 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.