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History · Rock Springs

Rock Springs’ post office opened in 1875, and 44% of its homes were built before 1940

1 place in town is on the National Register, among them the Van Hise Rock, a National Historic Landmark. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1901 on, and the census since 1880.

1875first post office
1on the National Register
44%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Rock Springs’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Rock Springs began

When was Rock Springs founded?

1875

The Rock Springs post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 163 in 18802020 census: 327151 years
Founding year: the first Rock Springs post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Rock Springs’ past

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

On the map since 19013 editions of the USGS map, 1901 to 1975. Watch Rock Springs change.Boom and bustPeaked at 542 in 1920; 327 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Rock Springs’ homes were built before 1944.A National Historic Landmark1 place on the National Register, including Van Hise Rock, a National Historic Landmark.
★ What stands out · On the map

Rock Springs on the map, 1901 to 1975

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

Rock Springs on the 1901 USGS mapRock Springs on the 1958 USGS mapRock Springs on the 1975 USGS map1901Denzer 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 Rock Springs.

People over time

Rock Springs, census by census

010020030040050060018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 542

Peaked at 542 in 1920; 327 people lived here in 2020.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

The story

How Rock Springs came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Rock Springs.

Read it all →

At the time of its founding, Rock Springs was known as Ableman, after Stephen Van Rensselaer Ableman, who settled there in 1851. The railroad has been a major influence on the village's growth.

Surrounded by cliffs of Baraboo Quartzite, the village is two miles south of a notable rock formation located in Ableman Gorge, Van Hise Rock, which was used to explain the processes of structural geology by University of Wisconsin–Madison professor Charles R. Van Hise.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Rock Springs, 1875 to 1997

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1875Post officeThe Rock Springs post office opens
  3. 1880In the archiveAbleman's Narrows, the Boar's Head
  4. 1898In the archiveAlbeman's [i.e. Ableman's] Narrows, Wis
  5. 20th century
  6. 1901On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 542
  8. 1997LandmarkVan Hise Rock named a National Historic Landmark
By decade

Rock Springs, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1880s–1890s6 items
Ableman's Narrows, the Boar's Head1880Ableman's Narrows, the Boar's HeadAbleman's Narrows1880Ableman's NarrowsBaraboo River near Ableman's, distant view1880Baraboo River near Ableman's, distant viewBaraboo River near Ableman's1880Baraboo River near Ableman'sAlbeman's [i.e. Ableman's] Narrows, Wis1898Albeman's [i.e. Ableman's] Narrows, WisBaraboo River near Ableman's1898Baraboo River near Ableman's
1900s–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
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.

Ableman's Narrows, the Boar's Head
Retake this viewAbleman's Narrows, the Boar's Head, 1880

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Rock Springs

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmark
1
Van Hise Rock
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1997
Van Hise Rock
Van Hise Rock★
Sites★ landmark
All 1 listings
Van Hise RockSite · listed 1997

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

Help out

Finish Rock Springs’s story

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewAbleman's Narrows, the Boar's Head: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Rock Springs’ history

What year was Rock Springs founded?

The Rock Springs post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Rock Springs?

One place: the Van Hise Rock (listed 1997).

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 the Library of Congress (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) and the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.