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C+History
History · Wrightstown

Wrightstown’s post office opened in 1852, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

More historic than 35% of U.S. towns · #264 of 362 in Wisconsin. What drives it

Most of Wrightstown was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1995. Its Register listing is the Mueller-Wright House. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1954 on, and the census since 1880.

1852first post office
1on the National Register
5%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Wrightstown’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Wrightstown began

When was Wrightstown founded?

1852

The Wrightstown post office opened in 1852, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 450 in 18802020 census: 3,179174 years

How historic is Wrightstown?

C+

More historic than 35% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

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

What drives Wrightstown’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Wrightstown is more historic than 35% of U.S. towns, #264 of 362 in Wisconsin. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Wrightstown’s overall grade.
Founding era1852, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19404.5% of homes (±3.2) · typical WI town 12.1% · U.S. 8.4%CNational Register1 listing, 3.0 per 10,000 residents · typical WI town 3.0 · U.S. 2.4B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 35%
NewerOlder
Wisconsin towns of 2,500+ (362)Ahead of 27%

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 Wrightstown’s 3.0 sits near the middle of its state (62% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 (±3.2 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 Wrightstown’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 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Wrightstown’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Wrightstown’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 viewDETAIL VIEW OF EAST ARCH - Wrightstown …: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Wrightstown came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Wrightstown.

Read it all →

The area now known as Wrightstown lies within the ancestral homeland of the Menominee people, who inhabited the Fox River Valley for over 10,000 years. In the Treaty of Washington (1831), the Menominee ceded approximately 2.5 million acres of land, including present-day Wrightstown, to the United States government in exchange for approximately $92,000 in provisions and annuities. This cession occurred during the era of President Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Act.

ChaptersPre-colonial historyEuropean-American settlement

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Wrightstown, 1850 to 1968

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1850BuiltMueller-Wright House is built
  3. 1852Post officeThe Wrightstown post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1954On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1968In the archiveDETAIL VIEW OF EAST ARCH - Wrightstown Bridge, Spanning East River, on Mallard Road
By decade

Wrightstown, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1960s3 items
DETAIL VIEW OF EAST ARCH - Wrightstown Bridge, Spanning East River, on Mallard Road1968DETAIL VIEW OF EAST ARCH - Wrightstown Bridge, Spanni…GENERAL VIEW OF BRIDGE, LOOKING SOUTH - Wrightstown Bridge, Spanning East River, on Mallard Road1968GENERAL VIEW OF BRIDGE, LOOKING SOUTH - Wrightstown B…VIEW OF DECK, LOOKING EAST - Wrightstown Bridge, Spanning East River, on Mallard Road1968VIEW OF DECK, LOOKING EAST - Wrightstown Bridge, Span…
1970s–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
Today14 recent
Wrightstown High School Tigers student section2025Wrightstown High School Tigers student sectionTall Harvestore® Silo2012Tall Harvestore® SiloMueller Wright House2012Mueller Wright HouseOutagamieCountyWisconsinMunicipalBoundarieswithvillageofWrightstownhighlighted2011OutagamieCountyWisconsinMunicipalBoundarieswithvillag…WrightstownWisconsinWaterTowerWIS962009WrightstownWisconsinWaterTowerWIS96WrightstownWisconsinSignWIS962009WrightstownWisconsinSignWIS96WrightstownWisconsinPostOffice2009WrightstownWisconsinPostOfficeWrightstownHighSchoolWisconsinWIS962009WrightstownHighSchoolWisconsinWIS96Wrightstown Tower2009Wrightstown TowerFoxRiverWIS96BridgeWrightstownWisconsin2009FoxRiverWIS96BridgeWrightstownWisconsinWrightstownWisconsinWIS962007WrightstownWisconsinWIS96WrightstownWisconsinSign2007WrightstownWisconsinSignWrightstownWisconsinChurch2007WrightstownWisconsinChurchWIMap-doton-Wrightstown2004WIMap-doton-Wrightstown
On the map

Wrightstown on the map, 1954 to 1992

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

Wrightstown on the 1954 USGS mapWrightstown on the 1974 USGS mapWrightstown on the 1992 USGS map1954De Pere 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 Wrightstown.

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.

DETAIL VIEW OF EAST ARCH - Wrightstown Bridge, Spanning East River, on Mallard Road
Retake this viewDETAIL VIEW OF EAST ARCH - Wrightstown Bridge, Spanning East River, on Mallard Road, 1968

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Wrightstown

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1978
Mueller-Wright House
Mueller-Wright House, built 1850
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Greek Revival1
Mueller-Wright HouseGreek Revival · Built 1850

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Wrightstown, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,500188019001920194019601980200020203,179

Grew from 450 people in 1880 to 3,179 in 2020, 7 times over.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Wrightstown

Nobody well known was born in Wrightstown itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
W
Willem DafoeAmerican actor · b. 1955
Esmir BajraktarevićAmerican-Bosnian association football player · b. 2005
Terry ZwigoffAmerican filmmaker · b. 1949
Jeff LoomisAmerican guitarist · b. 1971
Greta Van SusterenAmerican commentator, television personality, a… · b. 1954
S
Steven KruegerAmerican actor · b. 1989
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Kaukauna1 historic placeA−

Questions about Wrightstown’s history

What year was Wrightstown founded?

The Wrightstown post office opened in 1852, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Wrightstown rank for history?

Wrightstown is more historic than 35% of U.S. towns, #264 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.

What is on the National Register in Wrightstown?

One place: the Mueller-Wright House (listed 1978).

How old are the homes in Wrightstown?

5% of Wrightstown’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.2 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1995.

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 (17), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.