The Thorp post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, North Fork (1878), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
2020 census: 1,795145 years
How historic is Thorp?
C+
More historic than 39% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Thorp post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Thorp’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Thorp is more historic than 39% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Thorp’s overall grade.
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 Thorp’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.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.0 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Thorp’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
The Thorp post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Thorp rank for history?
Thorp is more historic than 39% 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.
How old are the homes in Thorp?
19% of Thorp’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.0 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1967.
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), 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.
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2024
2024
2013
2004