The Arendahl Township post office opened in 1860, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Arendahl (1860), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 303166 years
Founding year: the first Arendahl Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
What stands out about Arendahl Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Arendahl Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Arendahl Township is a township in Fillmore County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 333 at the 2000 census. Arendahl Township was organized in 1860, and named after the town of Arendal, Norway.
Its first post office opened in 1860. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 337 to 303 (-10%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Arendahl Township in 1912
Passages that mention Arendahl Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Fillmore County, Minnesota (Volume 1)1912 · page 358Read the page →
Read the text
Arendahl Township is on the northern tier in Fillmore county, the second from the eastern boundary and separated from it by Rushford. The town of Holt is on the south, Pilot Mound on the west and Winona county on the north. In size and form it is identical with the original government survey. Root river cuts across the southeast corner of the town, involving sections 25, 26, 34 and 35. Along this river extends its valley and back at varying distances are the bluffs. The town is diversified with
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
Arendahl Township, 1860 to 1954
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Arendahl Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1954Lewiston sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Arendahl Township.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Another post office, Arendahl, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Hamlets and corners on the map
Arendahl
Gone or out of use
Arendahl Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Arendahl Township
Arendahl
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System 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.
