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History · Belle Prairie Township

25% of Belle Prairie Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1948 on.

0on the National Register
25%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: McGhiever · CC BY-SA 3.0

What stands out about Belle Prairie 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 Belle Prairie Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Belle Prairie Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Belle Prairie Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story so far

Belle Prairie Township, in brief

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

Belle Prairie Township is a township in Morrison County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 1,647 at the 2000 census. Belle Prairie Township was organized in 1858. Belle Prairie is a name derived from French meaning "beautiful prairie". Our Lady of the Angels Academy, located in the township, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,105 to 665 (-40%).

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

Timeline

Belle Prairie Township, 1902 to 1948

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1902Post officeThe Freedhem post office opens
  3. 1910Post officeThe Freedhem post office closes
  4. 1948On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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.
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On the map

Belle Prairie Township on the map, 1948 to 1979

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

Belle Prairie Township on the 1948 USGS mapBelle Prairie Township on the 1956 USGS mapBelle Prairie Township on the 1979 USGS map1948Belle Prairie 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 Belle Prairie Township.

Places that used to be

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

Another post office, Freedhem, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Freedhem
Gone or out of use
Freedhem Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Belle Prairie Township
Freedhem Lutheran

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Little Falls10 historic placesAGreen Prairie Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLittle Falls TownshipIts storyC+Buh TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townRipley TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAgram TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Belle Prairie Township’s history

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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.