Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 60% of U.S. towns · #160 of 362 in Wisconsin. What drives it
Most of Thiensville was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1964. 2 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 21 buildings between them. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1920.
The Thiensville post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Mequon (1882), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 60% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Thiensville is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns, #160 of 362 in Wisconsin. Its National Register listings hold 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 Thiensville’s 63.7 sits above most of its state (91% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 21 historic buildings outnumber those of 80% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Thiensville. 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 Thiensville.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1893Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Thiensville.
In the early 19th century, the Potawatomi lived on the west bank of the Milwaukee River and had a village in present-day Thiensville, located on Pigeon Creek, north of Freistadt Road. They surrendered their land to the United States federal government through the 1833 Treaty of Chicago, which was ratified in 1835 and required them to leave the area by 1838.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveFRONT (WEST) AND SOUTH SIDE, PERSPECTIVE VIEW - Thiensville Village Hall, 101 Green Bay R…One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1933FRONT (WEST) AND SOUTH SIDE, PERSPECTIVE VIEW - Thien…
1933GENERAL VIEW OF LOCATION AND EAST SIDE - Thiensville …
1933GENERAL VIEW OF LOCATION AND NORTH SIDE - Thiensville…
1933GENERAL VIEW OF LOCATION AND SOUTH SIDE - Thiensville…
1933GENERAL VIEW OF LOCATION AND WEST SIDE - Thiensville …
1933Max E. Peuschel House, County Trunk MNo then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Thiensville’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 334 and 3,341 people in every census since 1920.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Thiensville’s Wikipedia page.
Thiensville’s post office has been open since 1883. Another post office, Mequon, 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).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
The Thiensville post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Thiensville is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns, #160 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.
Two places: the Green Bay Road Historic District (listed 2004) and the Main Street Historic District (2004).
10% of Thiensville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.7 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1964.
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 Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
