Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Bridge No. L4013. Below: maps from 1965 on and old-book passages.
The Black Hammer Township post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Black Hammer (1871), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
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 Black Hammer Township’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Black Hammer Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Black Hammer is an unincorporated community in Black Hammer Township, Houston County, Minnesota, United States.
Its first post office opened in 1871. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 245 to 272 (+11%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Black Hammer Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
District No. 80, Black Hammer Township, was set off from District 37 by the County Board at the March session in 1870. The schoolhouse was completed that fall. The first term was held in the spring of 1871 by Ella Dibble. The first officers were Alex. Simpson (clerk), John Soutu (treasurer) and John Cunningham (director).
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Black Hammer 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 Black Hammer Township.
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, Black Hammer, 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.
The Black Hammer Township post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Bridge No. L4013 (listed 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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
