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History · Austin Township

Austin Township dates to 1853, and 20% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 11 old photos and papers, maps from 1954 on, and the census since 1860.

1853founded
0on the National Register
20%homes built before 1940
11old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Austin Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Austin Township began, and where its name came from

When was Austin Township founded?

1853

Austin Township dates its founding to 1853 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1860.

First census: 200 in 18602020 census: 881173 years

How did Austin Township get its name?

Austin Township was named for Austin R. Nichols, the area's first European settler.

Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1857. Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓

What stands out about Austin Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Austin Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.Old housesHalf of Austin Township’s homes were built before 1958.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

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

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

Cedar City
1857–1857
Varco
1875–1882
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Varco
Gone or out of use
Varco Post Officepost office
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Austin Township
Cedar CityGrand View Memorial GardensRose Creek

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

The story

How Austin Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Austin Township.

Read it all →

Fertile land, trapping, and ease of access brought first trappers and then the early pioneers to this region. The rich gameland attracted Austin Nichols, a trapper who built the first log cabin in 1853. At that time there were "about twenty families in the area." In 1855, more settlers began to arrive by wagon train from New England, upstate New York, and northern Pennsylvania. By 1856 enough people were present to organize Mower County. In 1856 the settlement adopted the name "Austin", in honor of its first settler. That year the first hotel opened to travelers and the first physician, Dr. Ormanzo Allen, moved to town. The first newspaper, the Mower County Mirror, was started in 1858.

Chapters19th century20th century21st centuryMajor floodsMajor tornadoes

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Austin Township, 1853 to 1954

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1853
    FoundingAustin Township is established
  3. 1857Post officeThe Cedar City post office opens
  4. 1857Post officeThe Cedar City post office closes
  5. 1875Post officeThe Varco post office opens
  6. 1882Post officeThe Varco post office closes
  7. 1890In the archiveCarnegie Public Library
  8. 20th century
  9. 1902In the archiveSMNC-Harpman-1902
  10. 1911In the archiveCarnegieLibraryAustinMN
  11. 1920In the archiveHormelPlantAustinMNpostcard
  12. 1936In the archiveWoman hanging out clothes. Austin Homesteads, Minnesota
  13. 1941In the archiveSkinning sheep. Packing plant
  14. 1954On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Austin Township, decade by decade

6 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s–1920s5 items
Carnegie Public Library1890Carnegie Public LibrarySMNC-Harpman-19021902SMNC-Harpman-1902SMNC1907c. 1907SMNC1907CarnegieLibraryAustinMN1911CarnegieLibraryAustinMNHormelPlantAustinMNpostcard1920HormelPlantAustinMNpostcardPostcard
1930s–1940s6 items
Woman hanging out clothes. Austin Homesteads, Minnesota1936Woman hanging out clothes. Austin Homesteads, Minneso…Skinning sheep. Packing plant1941Skinning sheep. Packing plantBeef in storage. Packing plant. Austin, Minnesota1941Beef in storage. Packing plant. Austin, MinnesotaThe hog cut. Packing plant. Austin, Minnesota1941The hog cut. Packing plant. Austin, MinnesotaThe hog cut. Packing plant1941The hog cut. Packing plantSkinning a cow. Packing plant1941Skinning a cow. Packing plant
1950s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
On the map

Austin Township on the map, 1954 to 1982

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

Austin Township on the 1954 USGS mapAustin Township on the 1982 USGS map1954Austin 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 Austin Township.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Carnegie Public Library
Retake this viewCarnegie Public Library, 1890

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Austin Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Austin Township, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,00030,000190019502000Peak: 27,908

Between 200 and 27,908 people in every census since 1860.

17 censuses, 1860–2020.

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

Help out

Finish Austin Township’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
5 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewCarnegie Public Library: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Austin3 historic placesBLansing TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townOakland TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLyle TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Austin Township’s history

What year was Austin Township founded?

In 1853, according to Wikidata. Austin Township’s post office opened in 1857, and the census of 1860 counted 200 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 Wikimedia Commons (5), the Library of Congress (6), Wikipedia, 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.