Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 47% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1946 on and the census since 2000.
More historic than 47% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Springfield is more historic than 47% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull 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 Springfield’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (28% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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 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 St. Croix County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 993 at the 2020 census. The unincorporated community of Hersey is located in the town.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 932 to 993 (+7%).
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings 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.
Between 808 and 993 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Springfield’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Springfield itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Hersey, 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.
Springfield is more historic than 47% 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.
20% of Springfield’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.9 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1987.
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 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 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.
