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History · Wauzeka

Wauzeka’s post office opened in 1857, and 16% of its homes were built before 1940

1857first post office
0on the National Register
16%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Wauzeka began, and where its name came from

When was Wauzeka founded?

1857

The Wauzeka post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 628169 years

How did Wauzeka get its name?

Wauzeka was named after a Native American leader whose Ho-Chunk name, Waaziga, means Pine Tree.

Founding year: the first Wauzeka post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓

What stands out about Wauzeka’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Wauzeka are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
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Start Wauzeka’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Wauzeka’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
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0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Wauzeka came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Wauzeka.

Read it all →

The village of Wauzeka was platted in 1856 by Hercules L. Dousman, with an addition in 1857 by local Mexican–American War veteran John McHarg. It was named after a Native American leader whose Ho-Chunk name, Waaziga, means Pine Tree. The village was connected to the Milwaukee & Mississippi Railroad in 1857 and possessed various sawmills in the nineteenth century to process pine lumber rafted down the Kickapoo River.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Wauzeka, decade by decade

Today6 recent
Farm with Two Silos - panoramio (26)2013Farm with Two Silos - panoramio (26)Farm near Wisconsin River2013Farm near Wisconsin RiverFarm near2013Farm nearFarm near Steuben2013Farm near SteubenFarm Near Boscobel2013Farm Near BoscobelCommunication Tower - panoramio (3)2013Communication Tower - panoramio (3)

Questions about Wauzeka’s history

What year was Wauzeka founded?

The Wauzeka post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

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Sources

Where this page comes from

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.