Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 48% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Church of the Immaculate Conception-Catholic. Most of Avon Township was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1984. Below: old-book passages.
More historic than 48% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Avon Township is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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 Avon Township’s 5.0 sits near the middle of its state (62% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Avon Township’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Avon Township.
Avon was laid out in 1873 and founded after the foundation of St.Cloud . The community is named after the River Avon, in England. A post office has been in operation at Avon since 1873. Avon was incorporated in 1900.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Avon Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Avon Township. — The first school in this township was taught by Mary Sutrup in a wagon shop, owned and operated by M. S.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Another post office, Saint Anna, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Avon Township is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns. 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.
One place: the Church of the Immaculate Conception-Catholic (listed 1982).
8% of Avon Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.6 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1984.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (4), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.
2023
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2021
2005