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C+History
History · Williams Bay

Williams Bay’s post office opened in 1892, and 15% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 36% of U.S. towns · #262 of 362 in Wisconsin. What drives it

Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1893 on, and the census since 1920.

1892first post office
0on the National Register
15%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Williams Bay’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Williams Bay began

When was Williams Bay founded?

1892

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

First census: 436 in 19202020 census: 2,953134 years

How historic is Williams Bay?

C+

More historic than 36% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Williams Bay post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Williams Bay’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Williams Bay is more historic than 36% of U.S. towns, #262 of 362 in Wisconsin. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Williams Bay’s overall grade.
Founding era1892, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194015.3% of homes (±4.9) · typical WI town 12.1% · U.S. 8.4%BNational RegisterNo listings counted · typical WI town 3.0 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 36%
NewerOlder
Wisconsin towns of 2,500+ (362)Ahead of 28%

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 Williams Bay’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (28% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.9 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 Williams Bay’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18934 editions of the USGS map, 1893 to 1994. Watch Williams Bay change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Williams Bay’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewBirthplace of Astrophysics, the Univers…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Williams Bay on the map, 1893 to 1994

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

Williams Bay on the 1893 USGS mapWilliams Bay on the 1960 USGS mapWilliams Bay on the 1971 USGS mapWilliams Bay on the 1994 USGS map1893Delavan 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 Williams Bay.

The story

How Williams Bay came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Williams Bay.

Read it all →

The village was named for Captain Israel Williams of Massachusetts, who, with several of his sons, settled in the area in 1837. Much of the surrounding area was settled in the early 19th century by surveyors plotting roadways from the East.

Williams Bay became a vacation spot for wealthy Chicagoans displaced by the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The village continues to attract vacationers from Chicago, Milwaukee and elsewhere.

In 1873, mail jumping was established on Geneva Lake as a means to provide postal service via boat to lakeside homes. The tradition is ongoing. Each year between June 15 and September 15, jumpers deliver mail to piers along the lake on behalf of the US Postal Service.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Williams Bay in 1912

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

The village of Williams Bay lies on the Linn strip and the Walworth slope, with such varied contour as to make die site practicable ami pleasing to home-keepers and summer visitors. The village settlement began about [879.
History of Walworth county, Wisconsin ..1912 · page 446Read the page →
Read the text

The village of Williams Bay lies on the Linn strip and the Walworth slope, with such varied contour as to make die site practicable ami pleasing to home-keepers and summer visitors. The village settlement began about [879.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
which is of the town of Geneva most of the owners of lake front property, on each side, are of the town of Linn and those at the upper end of the lake are of Walworth. The city is their principal port of entry, so to say, though Williams Bay and Fontana are also reached by rail from Chicago. Dr. Ph…
History of Walworth county, Wisconsin ..1912 · page 344Read the page →
Read the text

which is of the town of Geneva most of the owners of lake front property, on each side, are of the town of Linn and those at the upper end of the lake are of Walworth. The city is their principal port of entry, so to say, though Williams Bay and Fontana are also reached by rail from Chicago. Dr. Philip Maxwell, then in service as an army surgeon, had invested as early as 1836 in the claim at the mill section, and soon afterward entered land in sections 15, 26, 27 of Walworth. Leaving the army in 1842, he settled into professional practice at Chicago, and in 1853 became state treasurer of Illinois. In 1856

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

Williams Bay, 1892 to 1980

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1892Post officeThe Williams Bay post office opens
  3. 1893On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 20th century
  5. 1928Born hereDonna D. Elbert is born here
  6. 1960Born hereAnne Gray McCready is born here
  7. 1980In the archiveBirthplace of Astrophysics, the University of Chicago's Yerkes Observatory
By decade

Williams Bay, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1980s2 items
Birthplace of Astrophysics, the University of Chicago's Yerkes Observatory1980Birthplace of Astrophysics, the University of Chicago…The 1897 Yerkes Observatory is a research institution operated by the University of Chicago's Department of Astonomy an…1980The 1897 Yerkes Observatory is a research institution…
1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today10 recent
Romanesque Revival - Williams Bay, WI - Yerkes Observatory (3)2025Romanesque Revival - Williams Bay, WI - Yerkes Observ…Romanesque Revival - Williams Bay, WI - Yerkes Observatory (2)2025Romanesque Revival - Williams Bay, WI - Yerkes Observ…Romanesque Revival - Williams Bay, WI - Yerkes Observatory (1)2025Romanesque Revival - Williams Bay, WI - Yerkes Observ…Craftsman Bungalow - Williams Bay, WI - 171 Congress Street (2)2025Craftsman Bungalow - Williams Bay, WI - 171 Congress …Craftsman Bungalow - Williams Bay, WI - 171 Congress Street (1)2025Craftsman Bungalow - Williams Bay, WI - 171 Congress …Calvary Church2016Calvary ChurchWilliams Bay, Wisconsin 0422007Williams Bay, Wisconsin 042Williams Bay, Wisconsin 0382007Williams Bay, Wisconsin 038Cedarpointpark2006CedarpointparkWIMap-doton-Williams Bay2005WIMap-doton-Williams Bay
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Birthplace of Astrophysics, the University of Chicago's Yerkes Observatory
Retake this viewBirthplace of Astrophysics, the University of Chicago's Yerkes Observatory, 1980

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Williams Bay’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Williams Bay, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0001920194019601980200020202,953

Grew from 436 people in 1920 to 2,953 in 2020, 6 times over.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Williams Bay

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

See all →
A
Anne Gray McCreadyAmerican game designer · b. 1960
D
Donna D. ElbertPhysicist; mathematical author · b. 1928
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Linn4 historic placesAWalworthIts storyCGenevaIts storyC+Delavan2 historic placesB+

Questions about Williams Bay’s history

What year was Williams Bay founded?

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

How does Williams Bay rank for history?

Williams Bay is more historic than 36% of U.S. towns, #262 of 362 in Wisconsin. 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.

How old are the homes in Williams Bay?

15% of Williams Bay’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.9 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1982.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (10), the Library of Congress (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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System 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.