Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 56% of U.S. towns · #178 of 362 in Wisconsin. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railroad Passsenger Station and the Franklin School. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1893 on, and the census since 1880.
The Rice Lake post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Bracklin (1893), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 56% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Rice Lake is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns, #178 of 362 in Wisconsin. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
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 Rice Lake’s 2.2 sits near the middle of its state (59% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Rice Lake’s history is told.
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.
1893Sheet 1 of 7Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
From Wikipedia’s history of Rice Lake.
American Indians lived around Rice Lake for millennia, some of whom made mounds like those that remain in Indian Mounds Park along the shore of the lake. In later years before white settlers, Ojibwe (Chippewa) people occupied the area, and they had a strong cultural attachment to the wild rice that grew on the lake.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Rice Lake, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Rice Lake is destined to become one of the most popular summer resorts in north¬ ern Wisconsin. Already a splendid begin¬ ning has been made in the city park and broad driveway skirting the west shore of Rice Lake, while an extensively planned park and summer resort has been laid out on the east shore of the same lake. Here
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereJohn G. Blystone is born hereBorn hereHarold Olsen is born hereBorn hereDick Lane is born here
BuiltChicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railroad Passsenger Station is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveRand's Lanes Bowl signBorn hereHenry Ellenson is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2024Rice Lake, Wisconsin
2024Rice Lake, Wisconsin-2
2024Rice Lake in Wisconsin
2024Rice Lake Regional Airport
2024Rice Lake High School
2024Rice Lake High School-3
2024Rice Lake High School-2
2024Mastercraft
2018Franklin School
2018Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha station
2017Windy Day at
2017Reflections on
2017Overcast Autumn Day at
2016Rice Lake Wisconsin Sign WIS48 Looking East
2016Rice Lake Wisconsin Looking north WIS48
2016Lakeview Medical CenterThe U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Rice Lake.
1981Rice Lake North sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Rice Lake.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Rice Lake’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Grew from 362 people in 1880 to 9,040 in 2020, more than tenfold.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Rice Lake’s Wikipedia page.
Rice Lake’s post office has been open since 1872. Another post office, Bracklin, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Rice Lake post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Rice Lake is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns, #178 of 362 in Wisconsin. 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.
Two places: the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railroad Passsenger Station (listed 2007) and the Franklin School (2015).
17% of Rice Lake’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.1 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1974.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (17), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
