The story
Read it all →How Russell came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Russell.
The town was named for one of the original settlers, John Russell, in 1852.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Russell
Russell’s post office opened in 1855, and 62% of its homes were built before 1940
Below: maps from 1954 on and old-book passages.
1855first post office
0on the National Register
62%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Russell began
When was Russell founded?
1855
The Russell post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name.
2020 census: 384171 years
Founding year: the first Russell post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Russell’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Russell’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Russell’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.From the old history books
What they wrote about Russell in 1912
Passages that mention Russell, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, past and present1912Read the page →
Read the text
Russell was organized in 1852 and was named after John Russell, a settler living on section 4. The first election was held at the house of George Keenan in the spring of 1854, the total number of votes cast being fourteen.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, past and present1912Read the page →
Read the text
was on both sides of the Sheboygan river, below the Ashby place, comprising about 500 men, women and children. A large encampment was situated near the village of Cascade, another not far away to the south, and on to the west of Cascade. There was also an Indian village in the town of Russell and at Sheboygan, and at all these places the red man had tilled patches of ground, where they cultivated com and potatoes. Their habits, while in the 55 Digitized by VjOOQIC
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
Russell, 1855 to 1954
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1855Post officeThe Russell post office opens
- 1872Post officeThe Russell post office closes
- 20th century
- 1954
On 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.
Add from your albumOn the map
Russell on the map, 1954 to 1992
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Russell. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1954Kiel sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Russell.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Russell
Nobody well known was born in Russell itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds
Russell had its own post office from 1855 to 1872.
Russell
18501940today
Gone or out of use
Russell and Rhine Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Russell
Saint Paul's Christian
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Russell’s history
What year was Russell founded?
The Russell post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 Wikipedia, 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.