Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Argyle

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Argyle

Argyle dates to 1879, and 16% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1918 on and the census since 1890.

1879founded
0on the National Register
16%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Argyle began

When was Argyle founded?

1879

Argyle dates its founding to 1879 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1890.

First census: 306 in 18902020 census: 544147 years
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1882.The full story ↓

What stands out about Argyle’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 Argyle are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 956 in 1920; 544 people lived here in 2020.On the map since 19183 editions of the USGS map, 1918 to 1982. Watch Argyle change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Argyle’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Argyle’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
People over time

Argyle, census by census

02004006008001,0001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 956

Peaked at 956 in 1920; 544 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

On the map

Argyle on the map, 1918 to 1982

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

Argyle on the 1918 USGS mapArgyle on the 1954 USGS mapArgyle on the 1982 USGS map1918Argyle 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 Argyle.

The story

How Argyle came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Argyle.

Read it all →

Before James J. Hill bought the Great Northern Railway in 1879 and accepted the task of completing the line from Crookston to the Canada–US border, a French-Canadian man founded a town named Louisa, after the French king, in the path of the railroad. However, Hill's company located the new railroad town just south of the Louisa property line and named it Argyle. The early settlement included many French-Canadians. Other settlers included immigrants from England, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Scotland, and Germany. The early townspeople and businessmen were always anxious to make Argyle an attractive community to the region. Today the community still boasts of several businesses, which draw customers from the regional area. Because of threats of flooding, a dike was built on the Middle River which is a branch of the Red River in 1988.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Argyle, 1879 to 1943

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1879
    FoundingArgyle is established
  3. 1882Post officeThe Argyle post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1918On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 956
  7. 1943Born hereEmil R. Bedard is born here
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
Places that used to be

Places now gone

Argyle’s post office has been open since 1882.

Gone or out of use
Argyle Post Officepost office

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

Questions about Argyle’s history

What year was Argyle founded?

In 1879, according to Wikidata. Argyle’s post office opened in 1882, and the census of 1890 counted 306 people here.

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 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) 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.