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History · Rush River

Rush River’s post office opened in 1852, and 40% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1949 on and the census since 2000.

1852first post office
0on the National Register
40%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Rush River began

When was Rush River founded?

1852

The Rush River post office opened in 1852, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, New Centreville (1856), Woodside (1867) and Palmer (1893), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 498 in 20002020 census: 500174 years
Founding year: the first Rush River post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Rush River’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 Rush River are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Rush River, and 2 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Rush River’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Rush River’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Rush River had its own post office from 1852 to 1854. Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Rush River
1852–1854
New Centreville
1856–1906
Woodside
1867–1887
Palmer
1893–1902
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
CentervillePalmer
Gone or out of use
North Centerville SchoolschoolWoodside Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Rush River
Peace

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

The story so far

Rush River, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Rush River yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Rush River is a town in St. Croix County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 500 at the 2020 census. The unincorporated communities of Centerville and Palmer are located in the town.

Its first post office opened in 1852. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 508 in 2010, 500 in 2020.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Rush River, 1852 to 1949

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1852Post officeThe Rush River post office opens
  3. 1854Post officeThe Rush River post office closes
  4. 1856Post officeThe New Centreville post office opens
  5. 1867Post officeThe Woodside post office opens
  6. 1887Post officeThe Woodside post office closes
  7. 20th century
  8. 1906Post officeThe New Centreville post office closes
  9. 1949On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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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On the map

Rush River on the map, 1949 to 1974

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

Rush River on the 1949 USGS mapRush River on the 1974 USGS map1949Baldwin 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 Rush River.

People over time

Rush River, census by census

010020030040050020002020Peak: 508

Between 498 and 508 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Rush River

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

See all →
Anna DodgeActress · b. 1867
Burleigh GrimesAmerican baseball player and manager · b. 1893
F
Frankie RayderAmerican model · b. 1975
Bjørn SelanderAmerican racing cyclist · b. 1988
Warren P. KnowlesAmerican politician · b. 1908
I
Isaac HowardAmerican ice hockey player · b. 2004
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

BaldwinIts storyCPleasant ValleyIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMartellIts storyC+Eau GalleIts storyC

Questions about Rush River’s history

What year was Rush River founded?

The Rush River post office opened in 1852, 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 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.