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Main Street, Blooming Prairie, MNPhoto: Myotus · CC BY 4.0
–Not graded
History · Blooming Prairie Township

55% of Blooming Prairie Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1967 on, and the census since 1880.

0on the National Register
55%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Blooming Prairie Township’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Blooming 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 writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Blooming Prairie Township’s homes were built before 1938.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Blooming Prairie Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Blooming Prairie 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 view1906BloomingPrairieMN: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Blooming Prairie Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Blooming Prairie Township.

Read it all →

Blooming Prairie was settled in 1856 and organized in 1867, being then called Oak Glen. The township received its present name in January 1873, taking the name of its railway village, which was platted in 1868. It is euphonious, referring to the abundant flowers of this prairie region, and it has the merit of uniqueness, with no other village or post office in the world having adopted this name.

A post office has been in operation at Blooming Prairie since 1868. The city was incorporated by 1874. Blooming Prairie's historic downtown is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Blooming Prairie Township, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s1 item
1906BloomingPrairieMN19061906BloomingPrairieMN
1910s–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
4 of Milwaukee Road Covered Wagons from Roger Puta20164 of Milwaukee Road Covered Wagons from Roger PutaBlooming Prairie Commercial HD2013Blooming Prairie Commercial HD2010-1021-BloomingPrairieHD20102010-1021-BloomingPrairieHDBloomingPrairieMNtower2006BloomingPrairieMNtowerMNMap-doton-Blooming Prairie2005MNMap-doton-Blooming Prairie
On the map

Blooming Prairie Township on the map in 1967

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Blooming Prairie Township.

Blooming Prairie Township on the 1967 USGS map1967Bixby 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 Blooming Prairie 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.

1906BloomingPrairieMN
Retake this view1906BloomingPrairieMN, 1906

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Blooming Prairie Township, census by census

05001,0001,5002,00018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 2,043

Between 338 and 2,043 people in every census since 1880.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Union
Gone or out of use
Selstad Landing Fieldairport
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Blooming Prairie Township
DanishUnion

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.

Blooming Prairie1 historic placeA−Summit TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWestfield TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAurora TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Blooming Prairie Township’s history

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), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.