Founding year: the first Ringle post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Ringle’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ringle is more historic than 23% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Ringle’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 Ringle’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 C. The pre-1940 share (±2.4 points) is firm at this size. 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 Ringle’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Ringle. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1899Wausau 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 Ringle.
The story so far
Ringle, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Ringle yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Ringle is a town in Marathon County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,743 at the 2020 census. The unincorporated community of Ringle is located in the town. On April 17, 2026, the town was hit by an EF3 tornado, and 75 homes were badly damaged or destroyed. No one was injured or killed in the storm outbreak, however.
Its first post office opened in 1891. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 1,711 in 2010, 1,743 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Ringle in 1913
Passages that mention Ringle, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Marathon County, Wisconsin1913 · page 577Read the page →
Read the text
John Lotholz has a saw mill which has been running for many years and manufactured a large amount of lumber annually. At the station Ringle there is a general merchandise store conducted by Herman Lemke, and another store of the same kind by Ernest Lemke. The settlement is of late date : the settlers are of a nationality not heretofore coming to Marathon county: they are natives of Holland and make excellent farmers.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Marathon County, Wisconsin1913 · page 146Read the page →
Read the text
The incorporated villages in Marathon county and railroad stations are: Dancy, Knowlton, Mosinee, Rothschield, Scholfield, Brokaw, and Heights, all on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad; then there are Norrie, Hatley, Ringle, Callon, Kelly, Marathon City, Edgar, Kenwood, Stratford, and McMillan on the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, and Athens, Milano, and Corinth on the Sault St. Mary Railroad, and Spencer, Unity, and Colby on the same railroad, and Eldron and Gallowa on a branch of the Northwestern railroad, branching off and running south from Eland Junction.
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.
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.
The Ringle post office opened in 1891, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Ringle rank for history?
Ringle is more historic than 23% 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 Ringle?
6% of Ringle’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.4 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1992.
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 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.
