Founding year: the first Tomahawk post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1891.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Tomahawk’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Tomahawk is more historic than 39% of U.S. towns, #251 of 362 in Wisconsin. 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 Tomahawk’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 Tomahawk’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 (±5.4 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1891 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.
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 Tomahawk’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
Before 1837, the land where Tomahawk is now situated belonged to the Ojibwe, who traded actively with fur traders such as the American Fur Company and the Northwest Company. After the 1837 cession, the practical situation changed only slightly: the federal survey teams had not arrived yet, logging activity was still light, and Ojibwe continued to actively occupy the general area. There was a village just north of the modern Tomahawk, in the vicinity of modern Bradley, and a village on Skanawan Creek. The 1854 Treaty of La Pointe created the reservations at Lac du Flambeau, Lac Courte Oreilles and Bad River. Even after this treaty, the region was largely public domain land and the treaties allowed the Ojibwe usufructory rights to hunt, fish, gather wild rice and make maple sugar. Some Ojibwe received their annuity payments in Wausau until the payments ended in 1874. By that time mo…
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
First Methodist Episcopal ChurchchurchFourth Ward SchoolschoolSeventh Day Adventist ChurchchurchWhittier Public Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Tomahawk
Calvary
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Tomahawk’s history
What year was Tomahawk founded?
The Tomahawk post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1891.
How does Tomahawk rank for history?
Tomahawk is more historic than 39% of U.S. towns, #251 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.
How old are the homes in Tomahawk?
18% of Tomahawk’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.4 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1963.
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, 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.
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