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History · Benton Township

29% of Benton Township’s homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the Johann Schimmelpfennig Farmstead and the Harms, J. Carsten and Magaretha, Farmhouse. Its Register listings are the Johann Schimmelpfennig Farmstead and the Harms, J. Carsten and Magaretha, Farmhouse. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1957 on, and the census since 1880.

2on the National Register
29%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Benton Township’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Benton 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 writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Benton Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.Old housesHalf of Benton Township’s homes were built before 1962.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Benton Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewCologne State Bank (ca. 1915): stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

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

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

Bongard
1872–1889
Gotha
1884–1902
Bongards
1916–1974
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BongardsGotha
Gone or out of use
Bongards Post Officepost officeEmpire Farm Strip AirportairportGotha Post Officepost office
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Benton Township
Cologne United MethodistSaint John's United Church of ChristSnapsburgZion Lutheran Church

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

The story

How Benton Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Benton Township.

Read it all →

Cologne was platted in 1880, and incorporated in 1881. The community was named for Cologne, Germany.

In 1939, the town of Cologne was preserved on film in the amateur short subject Cologne: From the Diary of Ray and Esther, which chronicles aspects of life in the German-American community prior to the American engagement in World War II. The film was named to the National Film Registry in 2001, and is one of only a half-dozen amateur works to be included on the list.

In March 2015 the city of Cologne, Minnesota hired Jesse Dickson as their city administrator.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Benton Township, 1872 to 1974

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1872Post officeThe Bongard post office opens
  3. 1884Post officeThe Gotha post office opens
  4. 1889Post officeThe Bongard post office closes
  5. 20th century
  6. 1902Post officeThe Gotha post office closes
  7. 1915In the archiveCologne State Bank (ca. 1915)
  8. 1916Post officeThe Bongards post office opens
  9. 1957On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  10. 1974Post officeThe Bongards post office closes
By decade

Benton Township, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s1 item
Cologne State Bank (ca. 1915)c. 1915Cologne State Bank (ca. 1915)
1920s–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
Today5 recent
John Knotz House2016John Knotz HousePhilip Guettler House2013Philip Guettler HousePaul Mohrbacher House2013Paul Mohrbacher House2009-0713-Cologne-govt20092009-0713-Cologne-govtMNMap-doton-Cologne2005MNMap-doton-Cologne
On the map

Benton Township on the map, 1957 to 1981

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

Benton Township on the 1957 USGS mapBenton Township on the 1981 USGS map1957Waconia 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 Benton 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.

Cologne State Bank (ca. 1915)
Retake this viewCologne State Bank (ca. 1915), c. 1915

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

2 historic places in Benton Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
6
each building in a district counts
first listed
1980
Johann Schimmelpfennig Farmstead
Johann Schimmelpfennig FarmsteadHarms, J. Carsten and Magaretha, Farmhouse
Buildings
Johann Schimmelpfennig FarmsteadBuilding
All 2 listings
Harms, J. Carsten and Magaretha, FarmhouseBuilding · listed 2013

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Benton Township, census by census

05001,0001,5002,000188019001920194019601980200020202,047

Grew from 60 people in 1880 to 2,047 in 2020, more than tenfold.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Benton Township

Nobody well known was born in Benton Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Beth RiesgrafAmerican actress · b. 1978
Carol Molnau46th Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota · b. 1949
J
Jimmy SnuggerudAmerican ice hockey player · b. 2004
Bob StinsonAmerican guitarist · b. 1959
Don HerbertAmerican television host · b. 1917
S
Shane GersichProfessional ice hockey winger · b. 1996
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Dahlgren Township1 historic placeB+Waconia Township1 historic placeAYoung America TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHancock Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Benton Township’s history

What is on the National Register in Benton Township?

Two places: the Johann Schimmelpfennig Farmstead (listed 1980) and the Harms, J. Carsten and Magaretha, Farmhouse (2013).

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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.