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History · Wilton

33% of Wilton’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1919 on and the census since 1880.

0on the National Register
33%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Wilton’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 Wilton are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19193 editions of the USGS map, 1919 to 1983. Watch Wilton change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Wilton’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Wilton’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
On the map

Wilton on the map, 1919 to 1983

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

Wilton on the 1919 USGS mapWilton on the 1921 USGS mapWilton on the 1983 USGS map1919Kendall 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 Wilton.

The story so far

Wilton, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Wilton yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Wilton is a village in Monroe County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 532 at the 2020 census. The village is located partially within the Town of Wilton and partially within the Town of Wellington.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,027 to 963 (-6%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Wilton in 1912

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

St. John the Baptist’s Church, Wilton, Wis. ‘‘The first Catholic family known to have lived in the territory now included in the parish of Wilton, was that of Anton Tomah, who located about the year 1852, some seven miles north of the present village of Wilton. There were no churches in this locali…
History of Monroe County Wisconsin1912 · page 417Read the page →
Read the text

St. John the Baptist’s Church, Wilton, Wis. ‘‘The first Catholic family known to have lived in the territory now included in the parish of Wilton, was that of Anton Tomah, who located about the year 1852, some seven miles north of the present village of Wilton. There were no churches in this locality at that time, but mass was said once a month in a little town hall at Tomah, then a small village of fifty inhabitants, by Father Noyes, at that time resident priest at Mauston. About a year later a few

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Shultz & Son at Tomah; from 1880 to 1883 he engaged in merehandising at Tomah, and in the last named year came to Wilton and purchased 160 acres of land in Wilton township and engaged in farming until 1887; disposing of his farm he moved to the village of Wilton and managed a general store for T. L…
History of Monroe County Wisconsin1912 · page 875Read the page →
Read the text

Shultz & Son at Tomah; from 1880 to 1883 he engaged in merehandising at Tomah, and in the last named year came to Wilton and purchased 160 acres of land in Wilton township and engaged in farming until 1887; disposing of his farm he moved to the village of Wilton and managed a general store for T. L. Martin.

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

Wilton, 1856 to 1919

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1856Post officeThe Dorset post office opens
  3. 1876Post officeThe Dorset post office closes
  4. 20th century
  5. 1904Born hereIrving Phillips is born here
  6. 1919On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Wilton, decade by decade

Today4 recent
Wilton, Wisconsin2023Wilton, WisconsinMartins Milk Service2023Martins Milk ServiceBrookwood High School2023Brookwood High SchoolWilton, WI welcome sign2015Wilton, WI welcome sign
People over time

Wilton, census by census

010020030040050060018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 578

Between 140 and 578 people in every census since 1880.

14 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and burying grounds

Another post office, Dorset, opened and closed inside today’s town.

3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Wilton
Dorset RidgeNothWorden - Burroughs Family

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

RidgevilleIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCliftonIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townTomahIts storyCWellingtonIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Wilton’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 (4), 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.