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History · Camp Release Township

Camp Release Township’s post office opened in 1873, and 17% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Camp Release State Monument. Below: maps from 1965 on.

1873first post office

1on the National Register

17%homes built before 1940

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Quick answers

How Camp Release Township began

When was Camp Release Township founded?

1873

The Camp Release Township post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Camp Release (1873), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 300153 years

Founding year: the first Camp Release Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Camp Release 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 writtenNo old photos of Camp Release Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Camp Release Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Camp Release Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

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The story so far

Camp Release Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Camp Release Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Camp Release Township is a township in Lac qui Parle County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 293 at the 2000 census. Camp Release Township was organized in 1871, and named in commemoration of the surrender at Camp Release.

Its first post office opened in 1873. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 315 to 300 (-5%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Camp Release Township, 1873 to 1965

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

19th century
1873Post officeThe Camp Release post office opens
1880Post officeThe Camp Release post office closes
20th century
1965On 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.

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On the map

Camp Release Township on the map, 1965 to 1986

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

Camp Release Township on the 1965 USGS map

Camp Release Township on the 1986 USGS map

1965Clarkfield NE 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 Camp Release Township.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Camp Release Township

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

place listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

1973

Camp Release State Monument

Sites

Camp Release State MonumentSite

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Another post office, Camp Release, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Gone or out of use

School Number 839school

6cemeteries and burying grounds inside Camp Release Township

Camp Release TownshipGerman AmericanSaint Petri Cemetery EastSaint Petri Cemetery WestSommerfeld FamilyTerrace Lawn

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.

Sparta TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town Tunsberg Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town Lisbon TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town Baxter TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town Stony Run TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town Lac qui Parle Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Camp Release Township’s history

What year was Camp Release Township founded?

The Camp Release Township post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Camp Release Township?

One place: the Camp Release State Monument (listed 1973).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

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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 National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.

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