Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Wild Rose

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
–Not graded
History · Wild Rose

Wild Rose’s post office opened in 1873, and 25% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1985 on and the census since 1880.

1873first post office
0on the National Register
25%homes built before 1940
3famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: BaronLarf · CC BY 3.0
Quick answers

How Wild Rose began

When was Wild Rose founded?

1873

The Wild Rose post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 25 in 18802020 census: 780153 years
Founding year: the first Wild Rose post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Wild Rose’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 Wild Rose are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Wild Rose’s homes were built before 1963.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Wild Rose’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Wild Rose’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 Wild Rose came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Wild Rose.

Read it all →

A post office called Wild Rose has been in operation since 1873. The village was named from wild rose bushes near the original town site, although many early settlers arrived from Rose, New York in the mid 1850's and the town may be named Wild Rose in reference to Rose, NY.

The Wild Rose Historical Society maintains Pioneer Museum on Main Street in Wild Rose.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Wild Rose, 1873 to 1985

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1873Post officeThe Wild Rose post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1945Born hereCarla Casper is born here
  5. 1960Born hereChari Towne is born here
  6. 1974Born hereScott Blader is born here
  7. 1985On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Wild Rose, decade by decade

Today6 recent
Wisconsin's Wild Rose State Fish Hatchery2011Wisconsin's Wild Rose State Fish HatcheryWild Rose State Fish Hatchery, Wisconsin2011Wild Rose State Fish Hatchery, WisconsinWild Rose State Fish Hatchery2011Wild Rose State Fish HatcheryWild Rose Hatchery 2, Aerial2011Wild Rose Hatchery 2, AerialWild Rose Fish Hatchery, Wisconsin from the air2011Wild Rose Fish Hatchery, Wisconsin from the airWild Rose sign2010Wild Rose sign
On the map

Wild Rose on the map in 1985

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Wild Rose.

Wild Rose on the 1985 USGS map1985Wisconsin Rapids sheet · 1:100,000

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

People over time

Wild Rose, census by census

020040060080018801900192019401960198020002020780

Grew from 25 people in 1880 to 780 in 2020, more than tenfold.

13 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Famous people

3 famous people were born in Wild Rose

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

See all →
C
Carla CasperAmerican female curler · b. 1945
C
Chari TowneAmerican rower · b. 1960
Scott BladerAmerican lawyer · b. 1974
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

RoseIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSpringwaterIts storyC−

Questions about Wild Rose’s history

What year was Wild Rose founded?

The Wild Rose post office opened in 1873, 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 (6), 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.