Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 31% of U.S. towns · #284 of 362 in Wisconsin. What drives it
Below: maps from 1892 on and the census since 1930.
The Wales post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 31% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Wales is more historic than 31% of U.S. towns, #284 of 362 in Wisconsin. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull 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 Wales’ 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.
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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Wales’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Wales. 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 Wales.
From Wikipedia’s history of Wales.
Welsh immigrants settled the village of Wales in 1840. The remains of Welsh history can be seen in the village's flag that replicates the Welsh national flag.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Wales, cut from the printed page as they were published.
COLMAN, a saint to whom there are two churches dedicated in Wales, Llangolman and Capel Colman, in Pembrokeshire. Colman is generally considered an Irish saint, as he flourished in Ireland about the same time as Fraid, but Wales and Ireland were in those times so intimately connected, that the Welsh and Irish saints were constantly passing over, and the circumstance of there being two churches called after him would prove a residence in Wales. He is sometimes called Colman the elder, to distinguish him from another of the same name,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
its exceeds the famous Rialto of Venice by 42 feet. He devised several improvements in the art of bridge building, and the success of his last bridge over the Tav introduced him to public notice, and he was employed to build numerous other bridges in South Wales. Living in the immediate neighbourhood of Caerphili castle, he constantly visited that noble ruin, to study the principles of its excellent masonry, and he considered himself to have derived important knowledge from that ciroaniftanoe. His maimer of hewing and dressing his stones was ex-
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.
Grew from 132 people in 1930 to 2,862 in 2020, more than tenfold.
10 censuses, 1930–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Wales’ Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Wales post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Wales is more historic than 31% of U.S. towns, #284 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.
12% of Wales’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±10.2 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1977.
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), Wikipedia, 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 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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