This project is meant to inform the reader on the history of landfill development and regulations, spanning from ancient times all the way until today. The paper first examines the history of how city and household trash was disposed of and examines disposal issues that people were having as their practices evolved, finally ending with an overview of some of the regulation that exists today for landfills. The Project also presents three separate case studies on historic landfills in Southeastern Wisconsin that were all founded before modern standards for landfill management were established in the 1970’s and 1980’s.