Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Belle River Township

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Belle River Township

Belle River Township’s post office opened in 1885, and 30% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1966 on.

1885first post office
0on the National Register
30%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Belle River Township began

When was Belle River Township founded?

1885

The Belle River Township post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Belle River (1885), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 341141 years
Founding year: the first Belle River Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

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

Start Belle River Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Belle River 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
The story so far

Belle River Township, in brief

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

Belle River Township is a township in Douglas County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 341 at the 2020 census. Belle River Township was organized in 1870. Belle is derived from the French meaning "beautiful".

Its first post office opened in 1885. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 345 in 2010, 341 in 2020.

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

Timeline

Belle River Township, 1885 to 1966

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1885Post officeThe Belle River post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1906Post officeThe Belle River post office closes
  5. 1966On 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.
Add from your album
On the map

Belle River Township on the map, 1966 to 1986

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

Belle River Township on the 1966 USGS mapBelle River Township on the 1986 USGS map1966Lake Osakis West sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Belle River Township.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone

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

Hamlets and corners on the map
Belle River
Gone or out of use
Belleriver Post Officepost office

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.

Osakis TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSpruce Hill TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCarlos Township3 historic placesBLeslie TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Belle River Township’s history

What year was Belle River Township founded?

The Belle River Township post office opened in 1885, 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 →
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 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.