Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Weyauwega

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
WeyauwegaCityHallPhoto: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0
–Not graded
History · Weyauwega

40% of Weyauwega’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1894 on and the census since 1880.

0on the National Register
40%homes built before 1940
4famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0

What stands out about Weyauwega’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 Weyauwega are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Weyauwega, and 2 old place names are still on the map.Mapped building by building4 fire insurance maps, 1894 to 1917, drew every building in Weyauwega.Old housesHalf of Weyauwega’s homes were built before 1950.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Weyauwega’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Evanswood
1854–1886
Gills Landing
1859–1925
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
EvanswoodGills Landing
Gone or out of use
Evenswood SchoolschoolGills Landing StationlocaleRainbow Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Weyauwega
Evanswood

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Every building

Weyauwega, building by building, 1894–1917

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 year, then a sheet.

Weyauwega fire insurance map, 1894, sheet 21894Sheet 2 of 3
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

The story

How Weyauwega came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Weyauwega.

Read it all →

Weyauwega has been host to the annual event Horse and Buggy Days since 1961. The event celebrates the past significance of the horse and buggy in the community. The event is presented by the Weyauwega Chamber of Commerce and features a parade, music and other activities.

The Waupaca County Fair has been held in Weyauwega since 1874 at the Waupaca County Fairgrounds at the east end of the City of Weyauwega.

In 1996, an 81-car freight train derailed, causing a large fire and several explosions from the hazardous materials in the train cars, prompting an evacuation of the town for two weeks until the fires burned out.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Weyauwega in 1890

Passages that mention Weyauwega, cut from the printed page as they were published.

Soon after the first settlement of Weyauwega, some Indians belonging to the Wa-ka-nu-kin tribe were making sugar in the '' Coffin sugar bush," just above the mouth of the Waupaca River, about a mile and a half east of the Village of Weyauwega. Two of them got to drinking whisky, and finally quarrel…
History of Waupaca county, Wisconsin1890 · page 160Read the page →
Read the text

Soon after the first settlement of Weyauwega, some Indians belonging to the Wa-ka-nu-kin tribe were making sugar in the '' Coffin sugar bush," just above the mouth of the Waupaca River, about a mile and a half east of the Village of Weyauwega. Two of them got to drinking whisky, and finally quarrelled, Avhen one stabbed and killed the other. The Indian law was that the

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
In 1850, Judge Beal, from Indiana, made a claim embracing a quarter-section of land lying east of the Village of Weyauwega, and opened a general variety store in a log house, part of the remains of which may be found standing in Weyauwega now.
History of Waupaca county, Wisconsin1890 · page 197Read the page →
Read the text

In 1850, Judge Beal, from Indiana, made a claim embracing a quarter-section of land lying east of the Village of Weyauwega, and opened a general variety store in a log house, part of the remains of which may be found standing in Weyauwega now.

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.

Timeline

Weyauwega, 1854 to 1969

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1854Post officeThe Evanswood post office opens
  3. 1855Born hereLyman E. Barnes is born here
  4. 1857Born hereGeorge de Rue Meiklejohn is born here
  5. 1858Born hereBenjamin P. Birdsall is born here
  6. 1859Post officeThe Gills Landing post office opens
  7. 1861Born hereOlin B. Lewis is born here
  8. 1886Post officeThe Evanswood post office closes
  9. 20th century
  10. 1925Post officeThe Gills Landing post office closes
  11. 1969On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Weyauwega, decade by decade

Today3 recent
Gerold Opera House2010Gerold Opera HouseWeyauwegaTowerYellowstoneTrail2008WeyauwegaTowerYellowstoneTrailWeyauwegaCityHall2008WeyauwegaCityHall
On the map

Weyauwega on the map, 1969 to 1984

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Weyauwega. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Weyauwega on the 1969 USGS mapWeyauwega on the 1984 USGS map1969Weyauwega sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Weyauwega.

People over time

Weyauwega, census by census

05001,0001,5002,00018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,900

Between 706 and 1,900 people in every census since 1880.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Weyauwega’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

4 famous people were born in Weyauwega

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Lyman E. BarnesAmerican politician · b. 1855
Benjamin P. BirdsallAmerican politician · b. 1858
George de Rue MeiklejohnAmerican politician · b. 1857
Olin B. LewisAmerican lawyer and politician · b. 1861
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

RoyaltonIts storyC+LindIts storyCFremontIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCaledoniaIts storyC+MukwaIts storyC

Questions about Weyauwega’s history

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
Start a conversation
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 (3), Wikipedia, 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.