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History · Blackduck

Blackduck’s post office opened in 1900, and 21% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Minnesota and International Railway Trestle at Blackduck. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1972 on, and the census since 1910.

1900first post office
1on the National Register
21%homes built before 1940
5old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Blackduck’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Blackduck began

When was Blackduck founded?

1900

The Blackduck post office opened in 1900, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 942 in 19102020 census: 845126 years
Founding year: the first Blackduck post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
The story

How Blackduck came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Blackduck.

Read it all →

The village of Blackduck was organized on October 19, 1900, and the city was incorporated on December 21, 1900. The first settlers came from Crookston, Minnesota. The town was founded because of the area's logging potential. The Laurentian Divide is near the area, and provides good drainage, resulting in good logging because the land is not wet. The community was named for Blackduck Lake.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Blackduck, 1900 to 1972

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1900Post officeThe Blackduck post office opens
  3. 1906Born hereMal Freeburg is born here
  4. 1937In the archiveIce cream social
  5. 1940In the archivePhotograph of Ranger Station and Warehouse at
  6. 1972On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Blackduck, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1930s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s–1940s2 items
Ice cream social1937Ice cream socialPhotograph of Ranger Station and Warehouse at1940Photograph of Ranger Station and Warehouse at
1950s–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
Date unknown3 to date
Rabideau Civilian Conservation Corps Camp, County Road 39Date?Rabideau Civilian Conservation Corps Camp, County Roa…Rabideau Civilian Conservation Corps Camp, Barracks, County Road 39Date?Rabideau Civilian Conservation Corps Camp, Barracks, …Rabideau Civilian Conservation Corps Camp, Barracks, County Road 39Date?Rabideau Civilian Conservation Corps Camp, Barracks, …
Today18 recent
Blackduck History and Art Center2026Blackduck History and Art CenterWater tower, Blackduck, Minnesota-022025Water tower, Blackduck, Minnesota-02Water tower, Blackduck, Minnesota-012025Water tower, Blackduck, Minnesota-01Senior Citizens Center2025Senior Citizens CenterPost Office2025Post OfficeMoon Drug on Summit Avenue2025Moon Drug on Summit AvenueKing Koin Laundromat2025King Koin LaundromatIntersection of Summit Avenue and Main Street2025Intersection of Summit Avenue and Main StreetFire Department2025Fire DepartmentCity Hall2025City HallBusinesses on west side of Main Street looking north2025Businesses on west side of Main Street looking northBusinesses on Summit Avenue looking west2025Businesses on Summit Avenue looking westBusinesses on Summit Avenue looking east2025Businesses on Summit Avenue looking eastBusinesses on Main Street looking north2025Businesses on Main Street looking northBlackduck Theater2025Blackduck TheaterBlackduck High School2025Blackduck High SchoolBlackduck, Minnesota2022Blackduck, MinnesotaMinnesota and International Trestle at2014Minnesota and International Trestle at
On the map

Blackduck on the map, 1972 to 1996

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

Blackduck on the 1972 USGS mapBlackduck on the 1996 USGS map1972Blackduck 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 Blackduck.

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.

Ice cream social
Retake this viewIce cream social, 1937

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Blackduck

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2014
Minnesota and International Railway Trestle at …
Minnesota and International Railway Trestle at Blackduck
Structures
Minnesota and International Railway Trestle at BlackduckStructure

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

People over time

Blackduck, census by census

02004006008001,000192019401960198020002020Peak: 942

Between 595 and 942 people in every census since 1910.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Blackduck’s post office has been open since 1900.

Gone or out of use
Blackducklocale
1cemetery inside Blackduck
Lakeview

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

Help out

Start Blackduck’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo3 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewIce cream social: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Hines TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSummit TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Blackduck’s history

What year was Blackduck founded?

The Blackduck post office opened in 1900, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Blackduck?

One place: the Minnesota and International Railway Trestle at Blackduck (listed 2014).

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 (19), the Library of Congress (4), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.