Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Split Rock Light Station · Photo: Jim Sorbie · CC BY 2.0Most of Beaver Bay Township was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1968. 3 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Split Rock Light Station, a National Historic Landmark, and two historic districts with 19 buildings between them. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1954 on, and the census since 1960.
Beaver Bay Township dates its founding to 1856 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1960.
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 Beaver Bay Township’s history is told.
Three other post offices 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).
Peaked at 362 in 1970; 120 people lived here in 2020.
7 censuses, 1960–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Beaver Bay Township’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Beaver Bay Township.
Beaver Bay is the oldest settlement on the North Shore of Lake Superior. It was established in 1856.
The community is also the home of the annual John Beargrease Dog Sled Race.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
BuiltTettegouche Camp Historic District is built
2026United States Post Office, Beaver Bay, Minnesota-02
2026Red Raven North Motel, Beaver Bay, Minnesota-02
2026Red Raven North Motel, Beaver Bay, Minnesota-01
2026Mini Mall
2026Mini Mall, Beaver Bay, Minnesota-02
2026Mini Mall sign
2026Liquor sign
2026Gift shop in
2026Fire Station
2026City of
2026City & Town Hall, Beaver Bay, Minnesota-02
2026City & Town Hall, Beaver Bay, Minnesota-01
2019Fenstad's Beaver Bay Mini Mall - Minnesota's North Sh…
2015Stairs-to-the-lake.jpg
2009Wintertime Sunrise on Lake Superior
2007Beaverbay-blueanchor
c. 2005Beaver Bay.Alternate Title: North shore, Lake SuperiorEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Beaver Bay Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Beaver Bay Township.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Beaver Bay Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.
★ Landmark
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Nobody well known was born in Beaver Bay Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1856, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Beaver Bay Township’s post office opened in 1892, and the census of 1960 counted 287 people here.
Three places: the Split Rock Light Station (listed 1969), the Tettegouche Camp Historic District (1989) and the Edward and Lisa Mattson House and Fish House (1990).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (18), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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.
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