Railway postal diagram of the state of Wisconsin prepared for the use of the Railway Mail Service.

This 1882 railway postal diagram of the state of Wisconsin was prepared for the the Railway Mail Service by W. L. Nicholson. It is now part of the Railroads Map Collection of the Library of Congress.

The railroads and post offices on this map are shown as of date of July 1st 1882. The Green Bay Winona & St. Paul extended from Marshland in western Wisconsin to Green Bay. On the west end the cities of Winona, Minnesota and La Crosse, Wisconsin were reached via trackage rights agreements with the Chicago & North Western.

Check out some of the details on the map:

• The junction town of Merrillan was known as Merrillville.
• Fort Howard, across the Fox River from Green Bay, was still an independent town. It would later consolidate with Green Bay.
• The town of Taylor was labeled as Taylor Station.
• The towns of Home, Sechlerville, and Scranton appear on the map. They would later become ghost towns -- disappearing early in the twentieth century.
• By 1882 the LaCrosse Branch between Onalaska an LaCrosse was opened to traffic. 
• The rail line between Plover and Stevens Point was the Green Bay, Stevens Point & Northern Railroad, which went bankrupt along with the parent GBW&StP in 1896. It would be merged into the Green Bay & Western after the reorganization.
• There was no trackage east of Green Bay. It would be another ten years before the Kewaunee, Green Bay & Western and the Ahnapee & Western were constructed. Other future rail construction included the Iola & Northern and Waupaca - Green Bay Railroad. The Ettrick & Northern, which extended south from Blair to the nearby namesake town, would not be built for another three decades.

View the entire map at the Library of Congress web site.