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History · Canton Township

28% of Canton Township’s homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Lenora Methodist Episcopal Church. Below: maps from 1965 on and the census since 1890.

1on the National Register
28%homes built before 1940
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What stands out about Canton 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 Canton Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Canton Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.Boom and bustPeaked at 467 in 1960; 310 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Canton Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Canton 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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Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Elliota
1854–1882
Lenora
1856–1905
Prosper
1866–1979
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
LenoraProsper
Gone or out of use
Lenora Post Officepost office
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Canton Township
AmishCalvaryElliotaLenoraProsper

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

People over time

Canton Township, census by census

01002003004005001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 467

Peaked at 467 in 1960; 310 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

The story

How Canton Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Canton Township.

Read it all →

A post office called Canton has been in operation since 1882. Canton was incorporated in 1887. The city was named after Canton, Ohio.

The city was previously served by passenger rail at Canton station.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Canton Township, 1854 to 1979

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1854Post officeThe Elliota post office opens
  3. 1856Post officeThe Lenora post office opens
  4. 1866Post officeThe Prosper post office opens
  5. 1882Post officeThe Elliota post office closes
  6. 20th century
  7. 1905Post officeThe Lenora post office closes
  8. 1960CensusPopulation peaks at 467
  9. 1965On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  10. 1979Post officeThe Prosper post office closes
By decade

Canton Township, decade by decade

Today6 recent
Canton closed public school2024Canton closed public schoolCanton Town Hall2024Canton Town HallCanton, Minnesota2023Canton, MinnesotaCanton streetsign-Prairie and Main2012Canton streetsign-Prairie and MainBuilding in Canton, Minnesota2012Building in Canton, MinnesotaMNMap-doton-Canton2005MNMap-doton-Canton
On the map

Canton Township on the map, 1965 to 1990

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

Canton Township on the 1965 USGS mapCanton Township on the 1984 USGS mapCanton Township on the 1990 USGS map1965Canton 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 Canton Township.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Canton Township

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
1982
Lenora Methodist Episcopal Church
Lenora Methodist Episcopal Church
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Vernacular1
Lenora Methodist Episcopal ChurchVernacular

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Newburg TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHarmony Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAmherst TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Canton Township’s history

What is on the National Register in Canton Township?

One place: the Lenora Methodist Episcopal Church (listed 1982).

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), the National Register of Historic Places (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.