Its Register listing is the Waushara County Courthouse, Waushara County Sheriff's Residence and Jail. Below: maps from 1911 on and the census since 1880.
Founding year: the first Wautoma post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Wautoma’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Wautoma is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Wautoma’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 Wautoma’s 11.0 sits above most of its state (78% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 2 historic buildings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.1 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 Wautoma’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Wautoma yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Wautoma is a city in and the county seat of Waushara County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 2,209 at the 2020 census. The city consists of three noncontiguous areas: one is entirely surrounded by the Town of Wautoma, the second is entirely surrounded by the Town of Dakota, and the third and largest straddles the boundary between the two towns. Wautoma calls itself the "Christmas tree capital of the world". The Kirk Company of Tacoma, Washington, operated the "Wautoma plantation" of more than 10,000 acres (4,000 ha) of Christmas trees, beginning in 1953. On August 29, 1992, the town was struck by a half-mile wide F-3 tornado, killing 2 people, injuring 30 others, and causing ov…
Its first post office opened in 1850. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 2,218 in 2010, 2,209 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Wautoma, 1850 to 1968
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Wautoma post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Wautoma rank for history?
Wautoma 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.
What is on the National Register in Wautoma?
One place: the Waushara County Courthouse, Waushara County Sheriff's Residence and Jail (listed 1982).
How old are the homes in Wautoma?
25% of Wautoma’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.1 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1965.
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), 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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