Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1961 on and old-book passages.
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 Springfield’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Springfield yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Springfield is a town in Marquette County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 811 at the 2020 census.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 830 to 811 (-2%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Springfield, cut from the printed page as they were published.
and close to a beautiful spring of clear crystal water, there building for himself the first house that stood in the city of Springfield. Inhabitants of Springfield today can hardly realize the wild, picturesque appearance of site of the city of Springfield as nature made it.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
persons by the name of Kreb and Brown made a settlement a little beyond where the Big Four Railroad crosses Mad River south of Springfield, the second time, and it is not far from what is now known as 'Limestone City. This settlement is known in history as Kreb's Station. No mark exists at this time of its locality.
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Springfield. 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 Springfield.
Nobody well known was born in Springfield itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
