Photo: Wi7431 · CC BY-SA 4.0

History · Saukville

Saukville’s post office opened in 1846, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

More historic than 60% of U.S. towns · #162 of 362 in Wisconsin. What drives it

Most of Saukville was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1977. Its Register listing is the Payne Hotel. Below: maps from 1892 on and the census since 1920.

1846first post office

1on the National Register

7%homes built before 1940

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Quick answers

How Saukville began

When was Saukville founded?

1846

The Saukville post office opened in 1846, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 330 in 19202020 census: 4,258180 years

How historic is Saukville?

More historic than 60% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

Founding year: the first Saukville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

History grade

What drives Saukville’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Saukville is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns, #162 of 362 in Wisconsin. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Saukville’s overall grade.

Founding era1846, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA⁻Homes built before 19406.5% of homes (±4.1) · typical WI town 12.1% · U.S. 8.4%C⁺National Register1 listing, 2.3 per 10,000 residents · typical WI town 3.0 · U.S. 2.4B

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 60%

NewerOlder

Wisconsin towns of 2,500+ (362)Ahead of 55%

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 Saukville’s 2.3 sits near the middle of its state (60% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.1 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 Saukville’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 Saukville are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18924 editions of the USGS map, 1892 to 1971. Watch Saukville change.Deep rootsA post office since 1846: 180 years of Saukville.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Saukville’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Saukville’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

On the map

Saukville on the map, 1892 to 1971

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

1892Port Washington 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 Saukville.

Timeline

Saukville, 1846 to 1892

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

19th century
1846Post officeThe Saukville post office opens
1848BuiltPayne Hotel is built
1892On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey

The story

How Saukville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Saukville.

Read it all →

Saukville was the site of a Native American village at the crossroads of the Milwaukee River and two trails, one of which became the north–south Green Bay Road and the other the east–west Dekora Road. The area was populated centuries before the first European settlers arrived. In the mid-19th century, Increase A. Lapham identified a group of circular mounds near Saukville and found a stone ax. Lapham did not speculate about the age of the artifact or the mounds. An additional artifact of the early Native American presence in the area is the Ozaukee County Birdstone, discovered by a six-year-old farm boy in 1891. While the exact age of the Ozaukee County Birdstone remains uncertain, many birdstones date from a period ranging from 3000 BCE to 500 BCE.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Saukville, decade by decade

Today5 recent

2021Saukville Wi CN

2021Cooper 1

2018Schmit Bros Auto

2009Saukville Wisconsin 3965

2009Payne-Hotel Saukville Jul09

On the National Register

1 historic place in Saukville

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

place listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

1991

Payne Hotel

Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Greek Revival1

Payne HotelGreek Revival · Built 1848

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

People over time

Saukville, census by census

Between 330 and 4,451 people in every census since 1920.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Port WashingtonIts storyB GraftonIts storyC

Questions about Saukville’s history

What year was Saukville founded?

The Saukville post office opened in 1846, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Saukville rank for history?

Saukville is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns, #162 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 Saukville?

One place: the Payne Hotel (listed 1991).

How old are the homes in Saukville?

7% of Saukville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.1 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1977.

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 (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.

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