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–Not graded
History · Thorp

24% of Thorp’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1952 on and the census since 1890.

0on the National Register
24%homes built before 1940
3famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Thorp’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 Thorp are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Thorp, and 3 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Thorp’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Another post office, Eidsvold, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
EadsvilleEidsvoldJunction
Gone or out of use
Bi-Centennial SchoolschoolField SchoolschoolPeterson SchoolschoolRoger Creek SchoolschoolYaeger Schoolschool
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Thorp
East SideEidsvold

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Thorp came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Thorp.

Read it all →

The forest around Thorp was Ojibwe (Chippewa) territory in the decades before white settlers arrived. In the 1837 Treaty of St. Peters, the Ojibwe ceded Thorp and much of northern Wisconsin to the U.S. Around 1837 a sawmill and settlement began in Chippewa Falls to the west. In 1844 James O'Neill settled at Neillsville to the south. From 1847 to 1853 surveyors for the U.S. government marked off the section lines that would become Thorp and assessed timber and land quality.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Thorp, 1884 to 1974

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1884Post officeThe Eidsvold post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1906Post officeThe Eidsvold post office closes
  5. 1940Born hereGary Reineke is born here
  6. 1950Born hereAndy North is born here
  7. 1952On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 1974Born hereMike Maslowski is born here
By decade

Thorp, decade by decade

Today6 recent
Thorp City Hall2025Thorp City HallThorp, Wisconsin2024Thorp, WisconsinThorp high school 22024Thorp high school 2Thorp High School2024Thorp High SchoolThorpWI2013ThorpWIWIMap-doton-Thorp2004WIMap-doton-Thorp
On the map

Thorp on the map, 1952 to 1976

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Thorp. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Thorp on the 1952 USGS mapThorp on the 1976 USGS map1952Stanley sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Thorp.

People over time

Thorp, census by census

05001,0001,5002,00019001920194019601980200020201,795

Grew from 723 people in 1890 to 1,795 in 2020.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Thorp’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

3 famous people were born in Thorp

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Andy NorthAmerican golfer, PGA Tour member, U.S. Open cha… · b. 1950
G
Gary ReinekeCanadian actor · b. 1940
M
Mike MaslowskiAmerican football player · b. 1974
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Stanley2 historic placesB+DelmarIts storyBWordenIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townTaftIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWitheeIts storyB−

Questions about Thorp’s history

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
Start a conversation
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, 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.