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C+History
History · Minneapolis

Minneapolis’ post office opened in 1868, and 24% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 42% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: maps from 1884 on and the census since 1880.

1868first post office
0on the National Register
24%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: shannonpatric17 · CC BY 2.0
Quick answers

How Minneapolis began

When was Minneapolis founded?

1868

The Minneapolis post office opened in 1868, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 1,084 in 18802020 census: 1,946158 years

How historic is Minneapolis?

C+

More historic than 42% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

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

What drives Minneapolis’ History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Minneapolis is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Minneapolis’ overall grade.
Founding era1868, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194024.2% of homes (±6.0) · typical KS town 10.3% · U.S. 8.4%A−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical KS town 5.1 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 42%
NewerOlder

Kansas towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Kansas town has 5.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Minneapolis’ 0.0 sits below most of its state (19% of Kansas towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.0 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 Minneapolis’ 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 Minneapolis are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18923 editions of the USGS map, 1892 to 1985. Watch Minneapolis change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Minneapolis’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Minneapolis on the map, 1892 to 1985

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

Minneapolis on the 1892 USGS mapMinneapolis on the 1965 USGS mapMinneapolis on the 1985 USGS map1892Minneapolis sheet · 1:125,000

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

The story

How Minneapolis came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Minneapolis.

Read it all →

The community was originally called Markley's Mills, and under the latter name was laid out in 1866. It was renamed Minneapolis about 1871, after Minneapolis, Minnesota. The railroad was built through Minneapolis in 1878.

Minneapolis had its own minor league baseball team called the Minnies in 1905, then from 1908 to 1909, and again in 1912, alternately as part of the Kansas State League or Central Kansas League.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Minneapolis, 1868 to 1892

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1868Post officeThe Minneapolis post office opens
  3. 1887Born hereFrank Richards is born here
  4. 1892On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Minneapolis, decade by decade

Today3 recent
Downtown minneapolis kansas 20092009Downtown minneapolis kansas 2009FEMA - 30384 - FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers in Kansas2007FEMA - 30384 - FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers in Kans…KSMap-doton-Minneapolis2005KSMap-doton-Minneapolis
Every building

Minneapolis, building by building, 1884

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a sheet.

Minneapolis fire insurance map, 1884, sheet 21884Sheet 2 of 2
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

People over time

Minneapolis, census by census

05001,0001,5002,00018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 2,087

Between 1,084 and 2,087 people in every census since 1880.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Concord TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCenter TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Minneapolis’ history

What year was Minneapolis founded?

The Minneapolis post office opened in 1868, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Minneapolis rank for history?

Minneapolis is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns. 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.

How old are the homes in Minneapolis?

24% of Minneapolis’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.0 points), against a typical 10% for a Kansas town; the median home was built in 1970.

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 (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.