Wisconsin (oldest cities and towns)
Determining the date at which a community was founded is problematic. For thousands of years, Native Americans occupied the sites of most important Wisconsin cities and towns; perhaps Aztalan would rank as the oldest Wisconsin community. Even if one limits the question to the year that the first white person settled in any locality, was the town founded by someone conducting the first seasonal fur trade post, filing an official plat, erecting the first public building, or some other action? Like so many historical questions, the answer depends on how one defines one's terms.
Listed below are places that 1) still exist today and 2) were established by 1836, the year in which Wisconsin became a territory. Their founding is dated from the arrival of the first permanent, year-round, white settlers rather than from the establishment of a seasonal trading post:
1765 Green Bay
ca. 1785 Prairie du Chien
ca. 1795 La Pointe
ca. 1820 Shullsburg
ca. 1825 Platteville (post office established 12/31/28)
1827 Dodgeville
1827 Mineral Point
1827 Cassville (John Marsh letter, 1/14/27)
1828 Gratiot's Grove (post office established 2/20/28)
1828 Portage
1829 De Pere
1830 Paris (post office established 3/31/30)
1831 Helena (post office established 2/10/31)
1831 Kaukauna (post office established 5/5/31)
1831 Elk Grove (post office established 9/17/31)
1832 Sinsinawa (post office established 4/26/32)
1834 Menomonee (post office established 7/10/34)
1834 Racine
1834 Waukesha
1835 Lancaster (post office established 1/19/35)
1835 Milwaukee (post office established 3/16/35)
1835 Wiota (post office established 3/23/35)
1835 Butte des Mortes (post office established 9/5/35)
1835 Kenosha
1835 Appleton
1836 Janesville
1836 Beloit
1836 Oshkosh
1836 White Oak Springs (post office established 1/26/36)
1836 Sheboygan (post office established 4/18/36)
1836 Savannah (post office established 5/19/36)
1836 Wingville (post office established 5/23/36)
1836 Belmont (post office established 5/9/36)
Wisconsin Historical Collections; "The Territorial Post Offices of Wisconsin." (Oshkosh, Wis.: Wisconsin Postal History Society, 1963)
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