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A−History
History · Rochester

Rochester’s post office opened in 1837, and 17% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 81% of U.S. towns · #79 of 362 in Wisconsin. What drives it

Its Register listings are the Franklyn Hazelo House and the Whitman-Belden House. Below: 10 old photos and papers, maps from 1893 on, and the census since 1860.

1837first post office
2on the National Register
17%homes built before 1940
10old photos & papers
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Rochester’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Rochester began

When was Rochester founded?

1837

The Rochester post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 306 in 18602020 census: 3,785189 years

How historic is Rochester?

A−

More historic than 81% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

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

What drives Rochester’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Rochester is more historic than 81% of U.S. towns, #79 of 362 in Wisconsin. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.

A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Rochester’s overall grade.
Founding era1837, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 194016.5% of homes (±10.1) · typical WI town 12.1% · U.S. 8.4%BNational Register2 listings, 3 historic buildings, 8.0 per 10,000 residents · typical WI town 3.0 · U.S. 2.4B+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 81%
NewerOlder
Wisconsin towns of 2,500+ (362)Ahead of 78%

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 Rochester’s 8.0 sits above most of its state (72% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±10.1 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 Rochester’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1870 and 1920, then grew more than tenfold.On the map since 18934 editions of the USGS map, 1893 to 1971. Watch Rochester change.Deep rootsA post office since 1837: 189 years of Rochester.
★ What stands out · People over time

Rochester, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,000190019502000392 in 1870Low: 220

Lost a third of its people between 1870 and 1920, then grew more than tenfold.

14 censuses, 1860–2020.

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

On the map

Rochester on the map, 1893 to 1971

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

Rochester on the 1893 USGS mapRochester on the 1906 USGS mapRochester on the 1960 USGS mapRochester on the 1971 USGS map1893Silver Lake 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 Rochester.

Timeline

Rochester, 1837 to 2020

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1837Post officeThe Rochester post office opens
  3. 1847BuiltWhitman-Belden House is built
  4. 1858BuiltFranklyn Hazelo House is built
  5. 1866Born hereEllsworth Burnett Belden is born here
  6. 1876Born hereGinger Beaumont is born here
  7. 1893On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 20th century
  9. 1933In the archiveHABS WIS,51-ROCH.V,1- (sheet 0 of 3) - Henry Russell House, Old Hoyt Road
  10. 21st century
  11. 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 3,785
The story

How Rochester came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Rochester.

Read it all →

The first non-Native American settlers in Rochester were a group of five farming families, who all hailed from the town of Rochester, Vermont after which they gave their new settlement its name. These were "Yankee" settlers, which is to say they were descended from the English Puritans who settled New England during the colonial era. Correspondingly they were members of the Congregationalist Church and were staunch abolitionists. When they arrived in what is now Rochester there was nothing but dense virgin forest and wild prairie. They laid out post routes, built roads, constructed farms and government buildings all within the first few months of settling in what is now Rochester. Due to the Second Great Awakening, many of them had become Baptists or converted to either Presbyterianism or Methodism before coming to what is now Walworth County.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Rochester, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s9 items
HABS WIS,51-ROCH.V,1- (sheet 0 of 3) - Henry Russell House, Old Hoyt Road1933HABS WIS,51-ROCH.V,1- (sheet 0 of 3) - Henry Russell …HABS WIS,51-ROCH.V,1- (sheet 0 of 3) - Henry Russell House, Old Hoyt Road1933HABS WIS,51-ROCH.V,1- (sheet 0 of 3) - Henry Russell …HABS WIS,51-ROCH.V,1- (sheet 1 of 3) - Henry Russell House, Old Hoyt Road1933HABS WIS,51-ROCH.V,1- (sheet 1 of 3) - Henry Russell …HABS WIS,51-ROCH.V,1- (sheet 1 of 3) - Henry Russell House, Old Hoyt Road1933HABS WIS,51-ROCH.V,1- (sheet 1 of 3) - Henry Russell …HABS WIS,51-ROCH.V,1- (sheet 2 of 3) - Henry Russell House, Old Hoyt Road1933HABS WIS,51-ROCH.V,1- (sheet 2 of 3) - Henry Russell …HABS WIS,51-ROCH.V,1- (sheet 2 of 3) - Henry Russell House, Old Hoyt Road1933HABS WIS,51-ROCH.V,1- (sheet 2 of 3) - Henry Russell …HABS WIS,51-ROCH.V,1- (sheet 3 of 3) - Henry Russell House, Old Hoyt Road1933HABS WIS,51-ROCH.V,1- (sheet 3 of 3) - Henry Russell …HABS WIS,51-ROCH.V,1- (sheet 3 of 3) - Henry Russell House, Old Hoyt Road1933HABS WIS,51-ROCH.V,1- (sheet 3 of 3) - Henry Russell …Henry Russell House, Old Hoyt Road1933Henry Russell House, Old Hoyt Road
1940s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Date unknown1 to date
Henry Russell House, Old Hoyt RoadDate?Henry Russell House, Old Hoyt Road
Today7 recent
Rochester Village Hall 20202020Rochester Village Hall 2020Rochester Wisconsin Sign2013Rochester Wisconsin SignRochester Wisconsin Post Office2013Rochester Wisconsin Post OfficeRochester Wisconsin Municipal Building2013Rochester Wisconsin Municipal BuildingRochester Wisconsin Downtown Looking West2013Rochester Wisconsin Downtown Looking WestRochester Wisconsin Downtown Looking East2013Rochester Wisconsin Downtown Looking EastWIMap-doton-Rochester2004WIMap-doton-Rochester
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

HABS WIS,51-ROCH.V,1- (sheet 0 of 3) - Henry Russell House, Old Hoyt Road
Retake this viewHABS WIS,51-ROCH.V,1- (sheet 0 of 3) - Henry Russell House, Old Hoyt Road, 1933

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Rochester’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

2 historic places in Rochester

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
first listed
1974
Franklyn Hazelo House
Franklyn Hazelo House, built 1858Whitman-Belden House, built 1847
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Greek Revival1
Franklyn Hazelo HouseBuilt 1858
Whitman-Belden HouseGreek Revival · Built 1847

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Rochester

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Ginger BeaumontAmerican baseball player · b. 1876
Ellsworth Burnett BeldenAmerican lawyer and judge · b. 1866
Places that used to be

Old corners and burying grounds

Rochester’s post office has been open since 1837.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Honey Lake
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Rochester
Honey CreekRochester

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

Help out

Finish Rochester’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewHABS WIS,51-ROCH.V,1- (sheet 0 of 3) - …: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

WaterfordIts storyB−Spring Prairie3 historic placesA−Waterford1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townDover1 historic placeBBurlingtonIts storyCTichiganIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townNorway1 historic placeA−

Questions about Rochester’s history

What year was Rochester founded?

The Rochester post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Rochester rank for history?

Rochester is more historic than 81% of U.S. towns, #79 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.

What is on the National Register in Rochester?

Two places: the Franklyn Hazelo House (listed 1974) and the Whitman-Belden House (1980).

How old are the homes in Rochester?

17% of Rochester’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±10.1 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1981.

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 (16), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (1), 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) 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.