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History · Aurora Township

Aurora Township’s post office opened in 1856, and 49% of its homes were built before 1940

1856first post office
0on the National Register
49%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Aurora Township began

When was Aurora Township founded?

1856

The Aurora Township post office opened in 1856, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Aurora (1856), Aurora (1868) and Pratt (1879), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 528170 years
Founding year: the first Aurora Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Aurora Township’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 Aurora Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages4 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Aurora Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.Old housesHalf of Aurora Township’s homes were built before 1945.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Aurora Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Aurora Township’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
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Aurora
1856–1857
Aurora
1868–1894
Pratt
1879–1955
Bixby
1889–1985
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BixbyPratt
Gone or out of use
Pratt Post Officepost office
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Aurora Township
Aurora TownshipGerman Methodist Episcopal

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

The story so far

Aurora Township, in brief

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

Aurora Township is a township in Steele County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 625 at the 2000 census. Aurora Township was organized in 1857, and named after Aurora, Illinois.

Its first post office opened in 1856. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 574 to 528 (-8%).

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

Timeline

Aurora Township, 1856 to 1955

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1856Post officeThe Aurora post office opens
  3. 1857Post officeThe Aurora post office closes
  4. 1868Post officeThe Aurora post office opens
  5. 1879Post officeThe Pratt post office opens
  6. 1894Post officeThe Aurora post office closes
  7. 20th century
  8. 1955Post officeThe Pratt post office closes
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
Famous people

Famous people close to Aurora Township

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

See all →
M
Milton L. HumasonAmerican astronomer · b. 1891
S
Shirley Ardell MasonAmerican artist · b. 1923
Perry Greeley HoldenAmerican agronomist · b. 1865
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Ripley TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSomerset TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHavana TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBlooming Prairie TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Aurora Township’s history

What year was Aurora Township founded?

The Aurora Township post office opened in 1856, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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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 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.