Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Rietbrock. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1902Marathon sheet · 1:125,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Rietbrock.
The story so far
Rietbrock, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Rietbrock yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
The Town of Rietbrock is located in Marathon County, Wisconsin, United States. It is part of the Wausau, WI Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town contains one of the four 45×90 points of the world, where the 45th parallel north and 90th meridian west intersect. The population was 874 at the 2020 census. The unincorporated communities of Poniatowski and Schnappsville are located within the town.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 981 to 874 (-11%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Rietbrock in 1913
Passages that mention Rietbrock, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Marathon County, Wisconsin1913 · page 510Read the page →
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In the year 1879 Rietbrock cut out a road from Dorchester to his settlement in the present town of Rietbrock, which shortened the distance to the same by more than twelve miles than on the road from Wausau, besides giving prospective settlers from Milwaukee and the lower part of the state a direct railroad communication to Dorchester, and from there to his lands, instead of going the roundabout way from the south to Tomah and up to Wausau. In the same year he brought some settlers in from Dorchester and built a log house, named the Company's House, as a sort of station, and called
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Marathon County, Wisconsin1913 · page 676Read the page →
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len place. For ten years after coming to Marathon county he was on the Halsey farm, but in the meanwhile had bought land for himself, of which he took charge after leaving the Halsey farm. He owns one farm of eighty acres situated in the town of Rietbrock and another of eighty acres in the town of Johnson, both of which he has rented to capable tenants. In March, 1906, the Marathon County Farmers' Creamery Company was organized with the following officers: John H. Jenkins, president and manager, and A. F. Hoge, secretary and treasurer. The
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.
Timeline
Rietbrock, 1881 to 1907
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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 Wikimedia Commons (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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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