Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 67% of U.S. towns · #137 of 362 in Wisconsin. What drives it
9 places in town are on the National Register. Below: maps from 1892 on and the census since 1910.
Shorewood dates its founding to 1900 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1910.
More historic than 67% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Shorewood is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns, #137 of 362 in Wisconsin. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds 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 Shorewood’s 6.6 sits above most of its state (69% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 9 listings outnumber those of 75% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Shorewood’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Shorewood. 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 Shorewood.
From Wikipedia’s history of Shorewood.
In the early 19th century when the first white settlers arrived, the Shorewood area was controlled by Native Americans, including the Menominee, Potawatomi, and Sauk people. The United States Federal Government traded the land from the Menominee people in 1832 through the Treaty of Washington.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltBenjamin Church House is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
BuiltShorewood Village Hall is built
BuiltErwin Cords House is built
BuiltGeorge E. Morgan House is built
Born hereJim Abrahams is born hereWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 707 and 16,199 people in every census since 1910.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Shorewood’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Another post office, Cementville, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1900, according to Wikidata. Shorewood’s post office opened in 1889, and the census of 1910 counted 707 people here.
Shorewood is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns, #137 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.
9 listings: 8 buildings, among them the Benjamin Church House (listed 1972, the first), and 2 sites.
51% of Shorewood’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.5 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1938.
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 Wikidata (6), the National Register of Historic Places (10), Wikipedia, 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) 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.
