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History · Canton

Canton’s post office opened in 1882, and 52% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Depot. Below: maps from 1965 on and the census since 1890.

1882first post office
1on the National Register
52%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Canton began

When was Canton founded?

1882

The Canton post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Boomer (1879), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 281 in 18902020 census: 310144 years
Founding year: the first Canton post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Canton’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 are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Canton’s homes were built before 1938.Boom and bustPeaked at 467 in 1960; 310 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Canton’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Canton’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Canton came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Canton.

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.

People over time

Canton, 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’s Wikipedia page.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Canton in 1912

Passages that mention Canton, cut from the printed page as they were published.

Canton. In the village of Canton there is a well 240 feet deep. The stock yards are supplied from a well reported to be 318 feet deep. These wells apparently derive their water from the New Richmond and Jordan sandstones, respectively.
History of Fillmore County, Minnesota (Volume 1)1912 · page 517Read the page →
Read the text

Canton. In the village of Canton there is a well 240 feet deep. The stock yards are supplied from a well reported to be 318 feet deep. These wells apparently derive their water from the New Richmond and Jordan sandstones, respectively.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Amherst township is divided into several school districts, and all are in flourishing condition. The first school to be attended by Amherst pupils was in Canton township, the district comprising part of both towns and was known as district No. 11. The log schoolhouse was built by subscription in th…
History of Fillmore County, Minnesota (Volume 1)1912 · page 420Read the page →
Read the text

Amherst township is divided into several school districts, and all are in flourishing condition. The first school to be attended by Amherst pupils was in Canton township, the district comprising part of both towns and was known as district No. 11. The log schoolhouse was built by subscription in the spring of 1857, standing just over the line in Canton township. The first teacher was Helie Ann Churchill. The second was Augusta M. Osgood, who married M. H. Onstine. It was afterwards changed to No.

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

Canton, 1879 to 1965

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1879Post officeThe Boomer post office opens
  3. 1882Post officeThe Boomer post office closes
  4. 1882Post officeThe Canton post office opens
  5. 1893Born herePhilip Manuel is born here
  6. 20th century
  7. 1960CensusPopulation peaks at 467
  8. 1965On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Canton, 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 in2012Building inMNMap-doton-Canton2005MNMap-doton-Canton
On the map

Canton on the map, 1965 to 1990

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

Canton on the 1965 USGS mapCanton on the 1984 USGS mapCanton 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.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Canton

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
2018
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railro…
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Depot
Buildings
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad DepotBuilding

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 and places now gone

Canton’s post office has been open since 1882. Another post office, Boomer, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Boomer
1879–1882
Canton
1882–today
18701950today
Gone or out of use
Cantonlocale

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

Questions about Canton’s history

What year was Canton founded?

The Canton post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Canton?

One place: the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Depot (listed 2018).

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), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.