Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 70% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Dunroven House. Below: maps from 1983 on and old-book passages.
More historic than 70% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Vienna is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
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 Vienna’s 14.4 sits above most of its state (79% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 2 historic buildings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Vienna’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Vienna yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Vienna is a town in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,666 at the 2020 census. The unincorporated community of Norway Grove is located in the town.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 1,482 to 1,666 (+12%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Vienna, cut from the printed page as they were published.
of Madison abont twelve miles. Bounded north by the town of Leeds, Columbia county; east by the town of Bristol; south by the town of Burke; and west by the town of Vienna. About three-fourths of the town is high, smooth, rolling prairie; about one-fourth openings and grove timber, with a small portion of marsh lands.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
C. J. THORSNES, Register of Deeds; born in Norway, Oct. 18, 1840. Came to Dunkirk, Dane Co., Wis., with his parents, in August, 1849. Lived in the town of Dunkirk (on Sec. 16) for several years, then moved to the town of Vienna, in this county, where he was engaged in farming until 1867. Afterward, for about eight years, he taught school in Columbia and Dane Counties, then returned to farming, and remained until he was elected Register in 1878. He served three years as Town Treasurer in Vienna, and was Assessor one year in the same town. In August, 1862, he enlisted in Co. I, 23d W. V. I.; Berved until the spring of 1863, when he was discharged on account of disability, caused by sickness ; he was Corporal of his company while in the service. In 1865, he entered the Lutheran College at Decorah,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
ing town of Vienna. All of these early settlers liave removed, most of them in 1SJ:7, when a number of Norwegian families located in the northwest part of the town and purchased the former claims. Among these were Ingebrccht Larson, Peter Linde, Stephen Holum and Siur and Johannes Grinde. This year, J. W. Helden, of the firm of Hclden & Weston, proprietors of the "Fay" saw mill, in Wood county,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Vienna. 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 Vienna.
The 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.
Nobody well known was born in Vienna itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Norway Grove, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Vienna is more historic than 70% 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.
One place: the Dunroven House (listed 1980).
13% of Vienna’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.2 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1978.
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 (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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