Founding year: the first Winchester post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Winchester’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Winchester is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Winchester’s overall grade.
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 Winchester’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 B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±9.4 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 Winchester’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Winchester yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Winchester is a town in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,794 at the 2020 census. The census-designated place of Winchester and unincorporated communities of Clarks Point, Indian Shores, Lasleys Point and Piacenza are located in the town.
Its first post office opened in 1852. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 1,763 in 2010, 1,794 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Winchester, 1852 to 1961
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Winchester post office opened in 1852, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Winchester rank for history?
Winchester is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns. 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 Winchester?
26% of Winchester’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.4 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
