Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 57% of U.S. towns · #175 of 362 in Wisconsin. What drives it
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1893 on, and the census since 1910.
The Walworth post office opened in 1840, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1901. Another post office, Big Foot (1838), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 57% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Walworth is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns, #175 of 362 in Wisconsin. Its age 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 Walworth’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.
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 Walworth’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Walworth. 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 Walworth.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereCarlos D. Shelden is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveWalworth TheatreWikipedia doesn’t have a history of Walworth yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Walworth is a village in Walworth County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 2,759 at the 2020 census. The village is located within the Town of Walworth.
Its first post office opened in 1840. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 2,816 to 2,759 (-2%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Walworth, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The meetings, both religious and business, were held in the cobble-stone schoolhouse in the eastern part of the town of Walworth till April, 1855, when they were held alternately in said schoolhouse and at the schoolhouse in the village of Walworth. In 1857, Big Foot Academy was finished, and an academic school opened therein in December of that year. The meetings were then held in the academy until the completion of the new meetinorhouse. The new church edifice was finished and dedicated in March, 1874. The building is gothic in style, has a fine basement room for the Sabbath school and business meetings, and has one of the finest audience rooms above probably to be found in the county.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The town of Walworth (with Sharon) was set off in 1839, and the town of Darien early in the next year, leaving the name Delavan to town 2 north, range 16 east. One more dismemberment, February 2, 1846, gave section 1 to the new town of Elkhorn. Of seven measurements recorded by the state topographers the highest and lowest points were respectively nine hundred and sixty-eight ami nine hundred and five feet above sea-level.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
1846, at which time, by act of the Legislatiu-e, a new town of Elkhorn was incorporated, which embraced but a single section of the original town, viz.. Section 36, in Town 3, Range 16. By that act, the present town of Elkhorn was established. The boundaries were described as follows: "All that part of the county of Walworth comprised in Section 36, in the town of Elkhorn; Section 1, in the town of Delavan: Section 6, in the town of Geneva, and Section 31, in the town of La Fayette, is hereby set off and organized into a separate town by the name of Elkhorn," and except Section 36, the remaining part of Elkhorn was organized as a new town under the name of Sugar Creek. The town of Elkhorn, as organized by the act of Februaiy
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
At the first session of the second Territorial Assembly (which was the first session held at Madison), beginning November 26, 1838, Col. James Maxwell, of the town of Walworth, appeared in Council for the counties of Rock and Walworth, and held his seat through that and the next Assembly, which latter body adjourned February 19, 1842. To the fourth Assembly came Charles Minton Baker, of Geneva, serving from December 5, 1842, to February 3, 1846. His colleague for the joint district, which now had two members, was Edward Vernon Whiton, afterward the first
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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 sheet.
1912Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Walworth’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 755 and 2,816 people in every census since 1910.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Walworth’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Walworth’s post office has been open since 1840. Another post office, Big Foot, 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.
The Walworth post office opened in 1840, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1901.
Walworth is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns, #175 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.
16% of Walworth’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 1983.
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 (3), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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