Founding year: the first Randolph post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Randolph’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Randolph is more historic than 89% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Randolph’s overall grade.
Wisconsin towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Wisconsin town has 3.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Randolph’s 6.1 sits above most of its state (68% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.6 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Randolph’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Randolph yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Randolph is a village in Columbia and Dodge counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 1,796 at the 2020 census. Of this, 1,338 were in Dodge County, and 458 were in Columbia County. The village is located at the southeast corner of the Town of Randolph in Columbia County, although only a tiny portion of the village lies within the town. Most of the village lies within the Town of Westford in Dodge County. Small portions also lie within the Town of Fox Lake (also in Dodge County) to the north and the Town of Courtland in Columbia County. The Dodge County portion of Randolph is part of the Beaver Dam Micropolitan Area, while the Columbia County portion is part of the Madison…
Its first post office opened in 1849. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 1,811 in 2010, 1,796 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Randolph, 1849 to 1985
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Passages that mention Randolph, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The history of Dodge county, Wisconsin, containing ... its early settlement, growth ... an extensive and minute sketch of its cities ... war record, biographical sketches1880 · page 555Read the page →
Read the text
John Converse ; it was afterward changed to Westfield, and, finally, to Randolph — the name by which, doubtless, it will be known to the end of time. For the first thirteen years, it was attached to the town of Westford ; but, in the winter of 1869-70, the Legislature of the State passed an act incorporating Randolph as a village, and, on the 8th day of March, 1870, the first charter election was held.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The history of Dodge county, Wisconsin, containing ... its early settlement, growth ... an extensive and minute sketch of its cities ... war record, biographical sketches1880 · page 557Read the page →
Read the text
The entire State of Wisconsin has obtained an enviable reputation for the quantity and quality of its cheese, and in no place is this article better made than in the village of Randolph. In the year 1872, R. D. Calkins commenced its manufacture, and, during the past season, he used the milk of about two hundred cows, and manufactured about thirty thousand pounds of cheese, which, estimating the average price per pound as at 10 cents, will net the snug little sum of $3,000. Mr. Calkins buys his milk of the neighboring farmers, paying therefor about 90 cents per hundred pounds.
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.
The Randolph post office opened in 1849, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Randolph rank for history?
Randolph is more historic than 89% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Randolph?
One place: the Hutchinson Memorial Library (listed 1990).
How old are the homes in Randolph?
41% of Randolph’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.6 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1953.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
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