Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 72% of U.S. towns · #117 of 362 in Wisconsin. What drives it
3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 34 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1894 on, and the census since 1880.
The Shawano post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 72% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Shawano is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #117 of 362 in Wisconsin. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
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 Shawano’s 37.8 sits above most of its state (87% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 36 historic buildings outnumber those of 83% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Shawano’s history is told.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1894Sheet 1 of 4Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Shawano yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Shawano ( SHAW-noh) is a city and the county seat of Shawano County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 9,243 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1853. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 9,305 in 2010, 9,243 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltLincoln School is built
BuiltShawano Post Office is built
In the archiveSOO F7A 2227B in Shawano, WI looking southeast from Center St toward the CNW interlocking…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Shawano. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Shawano.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Shawano’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 890 and 9,305 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Shawano’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Shawano post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Shawano is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #117 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.
Three places: the Shawano Post Office (listed 2000), the Lincoln School (2013) and the Shawano Main Street Historic District (1999).
19% of Shawano’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.7 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1973.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (4), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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