Albert Lea dates to 1855, and 23% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 80% of U.S. towns · #22 of 273 in Minnesota. What drives it
5 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 130 buildings between them. Below: 9 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1860.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1856.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Albert Lea’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Albert Lea is more historic than 80% of U.S. towns, #22 of 273 in Minnesota. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Albert Lea’s overall grade.
Minnesota towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Minnesota town has 2.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Albert Lea’s 73.1 sits above most of its state (96% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 134 historic buildings outnumber those of 91% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A. The pre-1940 share (±2.8 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1855.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Albert Lea’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Every building
Albert Lea, building by building, 1884–1926
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 year, then a sheet.
1884Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Famous people
29 famous people were born in Albert Lea
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
The city is named after Albert Lea Lake, which was named after Albert Miller Lea, a topographer from Tennessee with the United States Dragoons, who surveyed southern Minnesota and northern Iowa in 1835, including the current site of Albert Lea. Captain Nathan Boone, a son of Daniel Boone, was the scout for Lea's Dragoon unit. Lea later served the Southern rebellion as an engineering officer in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.
Passages that mention Albert Lea, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Freeborn County, Minnesota1911 · page 132Read the page →
Read the text
Albert Lea. District 38. — This district embraces the city schools of Albert Lea, which are treated elsewhere; district 37 has a schoolhouse in the northwest part of section 12; district 14 has a schoolhouse in the northeast part of section 14; district 54 has its schoolhouse in the northwest part of section 35; dis¬ trict 110 has a schoolhouse in the west part of section 28; district 68 lias a schoolhouse in tin' southwest part of section 20.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Freeborn County, Minnesota1911 · page 249Read the page →
Read the text
Julius Clark was the first merchant in Albert Lea. The early fifties found him engaged in the mercantile business in Ohio. Adversity staring him in the face in the fall of 1855, he quietly boxed a portion of his goods and shipped them to the Ohio river, thence down that river and up the Mississippi to Brownsville, Minn., in the southeastern corner of the state: In March. 1856, he arrived in the prospective village of Albert Lea. Ruble per-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Albert Lea is the shire and central town. It is located between two picturesque lakes, and was named in honor of the distinguished explorer previousl-y mentioned. It was first settled in July, 1855, by Lorenzo Merry, who took the first claim, did the first breaking, erected the first house, and opened the first hotel. St. Nicholas, in the southern part of the town, was at one time
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Albert Lea, 1855 to 1954
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
In 1855, according to Wikidata. Albert Lea’s post office opened in 1856, and the census of 1860 counted 262 people here.
How does Albert Lea rank for history?
Albert Lea is more historic than 80% of U.S. towns, #22 of 273 in Minnesota. 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.
What is on the National Register in Albert Lea?
5 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Depot (listed 1982, the first), and 2 historic districts, the Albert Lea Commercial Historic District and the Albert Lea Commercial Historic District (Boundary Increase and Decrease), with 130 contributing buildings. 134 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Albert Lea?
23% of Albert Lea’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.8 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1960.
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 (13), the Library of Congress (4), the National Register of Historic Places (6), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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1908![Albert Lee [sic], Minn](https://images.townratings.com/story/8859/8d23f92c0de4b6ea0567-s.jpg)
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