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History · Ridgeland

Ridgeland’s post office opened in 1900, and 24% of its homes were built before 1940

1900first post office
0on the National Register
24%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Ridgeland began

When was Ridgeland founded?

1900

The Ridgeland post office opened in 1900, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Annsburg (1890), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 258126 years
Founding year: the first Ridgeland post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Ridgeland’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 Ridgeland are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Ridgeland’s homes were built before 1963.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Ridgeland’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Ridgeland’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 Ridgeland came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Ridgeland.

Read it all →

The village was founded in 1900 by George M Huss, President of the Ridgeland Land Company, coinciding with the rise of railroads. The village was formerly named Annesburg. It was first a model community built to accommodate rail workers.

The Blueberry Line connected Ridgeland to Barron, and was completed in 1900. It was envisioned by the Rice Lake, Dallas and Menomonie Railway, but these plans did not materialise. At the railroad's peak, the line had 65 cars, transporting livestock, potatoes and grain.

The village was incorporated in 1921, with electricity installed in the 1920s. Sidewalks were built in 1935, and a fire hall was built in 1953. A sanitary sewer plant was established in 1957.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Ridgeland, 1890 to 1900

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1890Post officeThe Annsburg post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1900Post officeThe Annsburg post office closes
  5. 1900Post officeThe Ridgeland post office opens
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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Famous people

Famous people close to Ridgeland

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

See all →
Madilyn BaileyAmerican singer and songwriter · b. 1992
Andy PafkoBaseball player · b. 1921
Charles C. McDonaldUnited States Air Force general · b. 1933
J. B. Van HollenAmerican lawyer · b. 1966
Ben Hur LampmanU.S. newspaper editor, essayist, short story wr… · b. 1886
L
Leona E. TylerAmerican psychologist · b. 1906
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Ridgeland’s post office has been open since 1900. Another post office, Annsburg, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Annsburg
1890–1900
Ridgeland
1900–today
18901960today

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

WilsonIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Ridgeland’s history

What year was Ridgeland founded?

The Ridgeland post office opened in 1900, 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 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.