Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Reedsville

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
B−History
History · Reedsville

Reedsville’s post office opened in 1862, and 28% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 47% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: maps from 1894 on and the census since 1880.

1862first post office
0on the National Register
28%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: User:Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 2.5
Quick answers

How Reedsville began

When was Reedsville founded?

1862

The Reedsville post office opened in 1862, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 140 in 18802020 census: 1,195164 years

How historic is Reedsville?

B−

More historic than 47% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Reedsville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Reedsville’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Reedsville is more historic than 47% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Reedsville’s overall grade.
Founding era1862, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194027.5% of homes (±5.4) · typical WI town 12.1% · U.S. 8.4%A−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical WI town 3.0 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 47%
NewerOlder

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 Reedsville’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (28% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.4 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 Reedsville’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 Reedsville are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Mapped building by building4 fire insurance maps, 1894 to 1913, drew every building in Reedsville.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Reedsville’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Reedsville’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
Every building

Reedsville, building by building, 1894–1913

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Reedsville fire insurance map, 1894, sheet 11894Sheet 1 of 2
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

The story

How Reedsville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Reedsville.

Read it all →

The village was named after Judge George Reed, who, with his partner, Jacob Lueps, bought a section of land in the town of Maple Grove, Wisconsin. In 1854, they had the land platted and surveyed by George Wimpf, who laid out a village of 56 blocks. Early residents of the village were French Canadians and Menomonee Indians. Later, settlers from Germany, Bohemia, and Ireland came. The village was incorporated in 1892, when its population was 510.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Reedsville, 1862 to 1954

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1862Post officeThe Reedsville post office opens
  3. 1875Born hereGeorge H. Garrey is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1954On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Reedsville, decade by decade

Today5 recent
ReedsvilleWisconsinPublicSchool2009ReedsvilleWisconsinPublicSchoolReedsvilleWisconsinMunicipalBuilding2009ReedsvilleWisconsinMunicipalBuildingReedsvilleWisconsinHighSchool2009ReedsvilleWisconsinHighSchoolReedsvilleFireDepartmentMuseum2009ReedsvilleFireDepartmentMuseumReedsvilleWisconsinWelcomeSign2007ReedsvilleWisconsinWelcomeSign
On the map

Reedsville on the map, 1954 to 1992

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

Reedsville on the 1954 USGS mapReedsville on the 1978 USGS mapReedsville on the 1992 USGS map1954Reedsville 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 Reedsville.

People over time

Reedsville, census by census

02004006008001,0001,20018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,206

Between 140 and 1,206 people in every census since 1880.

14 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

RocklandIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMaple GroveIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Reedsville’s history

What year was Reedsville founded?

The Reedsville post office opened in 1862, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Reedsville rank for history?

Reedsville is more historic than 47% 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.

How old are the homes in Reedsville?

28% of Reedsville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.4 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1965.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikipedia, 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.