–Not graded

History · Wahpeton

12% of Wahpeton’s homes were built before 1940

3 places in town are on the National Register, among them three historic districts with 15 buildings between them. Below: maps from 1970 on and the census since 1940.

3on the National Register

12%homes built before 1940

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What stands out about Wahpeton’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Wahpeton are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 484 in 1990; 345 people lived here in 2020.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Wahpeton, and 2 old place names are still on the map.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Wahpeton’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Wahpeton’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

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People over time

Wahpeton, census by census

Peaked at 484 in 1990; 345 people lived here in 2020.

9 censuses, 1940–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Beach

1896–1904

Manhattan

1904–1922

18901960today

Hamlets and corners on the map

Crescent Beach ResortManhattan Beach Resort

Gone or out of use

Manhattan Post Officepost office

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story so far

Wahpeton, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Wahpeton yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Wahpeton is a city in Dickinson County, Iowa, United States. The population was 345 at the time of the 2020 census. Wahpeton is part of the Iowa Great Lakes region of northwestern Iowa, which is a regional vacation and recreation destination.

Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 341 in 2010, 345 in 2020.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Wahpeton, 1896 to 1990

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

19th century
1896Post officeThe Beach post office opens
20th century
1904Post officeThe Beach post office closes
1904Post officeThe Manhattan post office opens
1922Post officeThe Manhattan post office closes
1937BuiltIowa Lakeside Laboratory Historic District is built
1970On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
1990CensusPopulation peaks at 484

By decade

Wahpeton, decade by decade

Today1 recent

2022Wahpeton watertower

On the map

Wahpeton on the map, 1970 to 1982

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

1970Milford sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Wahpeton.

On the National Register

3 listings protect 15 historic buildings

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

places listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

1990

Gull Point State Park, Area A

Districts

Architectural styles listings

Rustic3

All 3 listings

Gull Point State Park, Area ADistrict · listed 1990 Gull Point State Park, Area BDistrict · listed 1990 Iowa Lakeside Laboratory Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1991

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Wahpeton

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

See all →

David EllefsonAmerican bass guitarist · b. 1964

Darleane C. HoffmanAmerican nuclear chemist · b. 1926

Francis H. CaseUnited States Marine · b. 1896

Berkley BedellAmerican politician · b. 1921

Vicki MyronAmerican writer · b. 1947

Dixie WillsonAmerican writer, screenwriter · b. 1890

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

West OkobojiIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Wahpeton’s history

What is on the National Register in Wahpeton?

Three places: the Gull Point State Park, Area A (listed 1990), the Gull Point State Park, Area B (1990) and the Iowa Lakeside Laboratory Historic District (1991).

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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.

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