Most of Sister Bay was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1993. Its Register listing is the Jischke's Meat Market. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1960 on, and the census since 1920.
Founding year: the first Sister Bay post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Sister Bay’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Sister Bay is more historic than 40% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Sister Bay’s overall grade.
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 Sister Bay’s 9.6 sits above most of its state (76% 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 (±2.6 points) is firm at this size. 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 →
The story so far
Sister Bay, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Sister Bay yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Sister Bay is a village in Door County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,148 at the 2020 census. It is situated along the shore of Green Bay on the Door Peninsula, a popular Upper Midwest vacation destination.
Its first post office opened in 1873. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 876 to 1,148 (+31%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Sister Bay, 1873 to 1960
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Sister Bay post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Sister Bay rank for history?
Sister Bay is more historic than 40% of U.S. towns. 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 Sister Bay?
One place: the Jischke's Meat Market (listed 1986).
How old are the homes in Sister Bay?
5% of Sister Bay’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.6 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1993.
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), 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.
1887
