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History · Boy River

Boy River’s post office opened in 1910, and 20% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1971 on, and the census since 1930.

1910first post office
0on the National Register
20%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Boy River’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Boy River began

When was Boy River founded?

1910

The Boy River post office opened in 1910, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 92 in 19302020 census: 26116 years
Founding year: the first Boy River post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Boy River’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 Boy River’s homes were built before 1955.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Boy River’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Boy River’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 viewFootes Landing: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Boy River came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Boy River.

Read it all →

A post office called Boy River was established in 1910, and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1985. The city took its name from the nearby Boy River. In 2018, the State of Minnesota denied the City of Boy River's petition to dissolve after a special election in which three of five total voters voted to not dissolve.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Boy River, 1910 to 1971

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1910Post officeThe Boy River post office opens
  3. 1913In the archiveFootes Landing
  4. 1971On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Boy River, decade by decade

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

1910s1 item
Footes Landing1913Footes Landing
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
On the map

Boy River on the map, 1971 to 1996

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

Boy River on the 1971 USGS mapBoy River on the 1996 USGS map1971Boy River 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 Boy River.

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.

Footes Landing
Retake this viewFootes Landing, 1913

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Boy River, census by census

010019401960198020002020Peak: 92

Between 26 and 92 people in every census since 1930.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Places now gone

Boy River’s post office has been open since 1910.

Gone or out of use
Boy Riverlocale

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

Questions about Boy River’s history

What year was Boy River founded?

The Boy River post office opened in 1910, 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 the Library of Congress (1), 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.