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History · Stetsonville

Stetsonville’s post office opened in 1874

Most of Stetsonville was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1974.

1874first post office
0on the National Register
10%homes built before 1940
1famous people
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Quick answers

How Stetsonville began

When was Stetsonville founded?

1874

The Stetsonville post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 563152 years
Founding year: the first Stetsonville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Stetsonville’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Stetsonville are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Stetsonville’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Stetsonville’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Stetsonville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Stetsonville.

Read it all →

Stetsonville began when the Wisconsin Central Railway built its line through the area in 1872, heading north for Ashland. The stop was initially called "63." In 1875 Isiah Stetson built the first sawmill in town. The town was later named after him.

The people of Stetsonville drew water from private wells until the 1980s, when petroleum contamination began to appear in some of them. A complete cleanup of the source was impossible, so in 2010 the village established a municipal water system, with help from the DNR, the USDA, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and other sources.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Stetsonville, decade by decade

Today6 recent
Stetsonville, Wisconsin2025Stetsonville, WisconsinStetsonville Village Hall2025Stetsonville Village HallZion Lutheran Church2012Zion Lutheran ChurchStetsonville Wisconsin Sign WIS132012Stetsonville Wisconsin Sign WIS13Stetsonville Wisconsin Downtown Looking South WIS132012Stetsonville Wisconsin Downtown Looking South WIS13Stetsonville Tower2012Stetsonville Tower
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Deer CreekIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLittle BlackIts storyB−

Questions about Stetsonville’s history

What year was Stetsonville founded?

The Stetsonville post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Sources

Where this page comes from

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 Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.