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History · Whitelaw

Whitelaw’s post office opened in 1892, and 26% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1954 on and the census since 1960.

1892first post office
0on the National Register
26%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Whitelaw began

When was Whitelaw founded?

1892

The Whitelaw post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 420 in 19602020 census: 737134 years
Founding year: the first Whitelaw post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Whitelaw’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 Whitelaw are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Whitelaw’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Whitelaw’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
The story

How Whitelaw came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Whitelaw.

Read it all →

Originally called Pine Grove Siding and Pine Grove, the present name honors a local landowner named Whitelaw. A post office called Whitelaw has been in operation since 1892.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Whitelaw, 1892 to 1998

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1892Post officeThe Whitelaw post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1954On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1998Born hereLuke Goedeke is born here
By decade

Whitelaw, decade by decade

Today2 recent
WhitelawWisconsinSign2007WhitelawWisconsinSignWhitelawWisconsinDowntown12007WhitelawWisconsinDowntown1
On the map

Whitelaw on the map, 1954 to 1978

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

Whitelaw on the 1954 USGS mapWhitelaw on the 1978 USGS map1954Reedsville sheet · 1:62,500

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

People over time

Whitelaw, census by census

02004006008001960198020002020Peak: 757

Between 420 and 757 people in every census since 1960.

7 censuses, 1960–2020.

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

Questions about Whitelaw’s history

What year was Whitelaw founded?

The Whitelaw post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 (2), 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) 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.