The story
Read it all →How Burlington Township came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Burlington Township.
Burlington Township was organized in 1872. It was settled by natives of Burlington, Vermont.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
CHistory
History · Burlington Township
11% of Burlington Township’s homes were built before 1940
More historic than 29% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1959 on and old-book passages.
0on the National Register
11%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
About Burlington Township’s history
How historic is Burlington Township?
C
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 29% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
History grade
What drives Burlington Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Burlington Township is more historic than 29% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Burlington Township’s overall grade.
Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 194011.0% of homes (±5.4) · typical MN town 8.1% · U.S. 8.4%B−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical MN town 2.1 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 29%
NewerOlder
Minnesota towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Minnesota town has 2.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Burlington Township’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (23% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.4 points).
Founding year: our sources. Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Burlington Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Burlington Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Burlington Township’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.From the old history books
What they wrote about Burlington Township in 1907
Passages that mention Burlington Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
A pioneer history of Becker County, Minnesota, including a brief account of its natural history ... and a history of the early settlement of the county1907 · page 217Read the page →
Read the text
three distinct trails in the road, showing that it had been extensively used for vehicles drawn by a single animal. The road entered Becker County on the south, between the two lakes on the south line of Section 36, of Burlington Township, nearly a mile east of where the Northern Pacific Railroad crosses the county line. It crossed the Otter Tail River a little below the lower Frazee dam, and a little above the present bridge on the Silver Leaf road and passed up through the town of Burlington very near where the Northern
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.
Timeline
Burlington Township, 1887 to 1959
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1887Post officeThe McHugh post office opens
- 20th century
- 1918Post officeThe McHugh post office closes
- 1959
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your albumOn the map
Burlington Township on the map, 1959 to 1982
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Burlington Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1959Rochert sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Burlington Township.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Burlington Township
Nobody well known was born in Burlington Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
B
Bud TingelstadAmerican racing driver · b. 1928
R
Ray TaylorAmerican film director · b. 1888
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds
Another post office, McHugh, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Gone or out of use
McHughlocaleMcHugh Post Officepost office
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Burlington Township
ChiltonLakesideSacred Heart
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). 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.
Questions about Burlington Township’s history
How does Burlington Township rank for history?
Burlington Township is more historic than 29% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Burlington Township?
11% of Burlington Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.4 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1994.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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).
From Wikipedia, 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.