Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1854.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Chatfield’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Chatfield is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns, #39 of 273 in Minnesota. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Chatfield’s overall grade.
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 Chatfield’s 19.5 sits above most of its state (83% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 5 listings outnumber those of 70% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.9 points). Two sources give 1853.
Founding year: Wikipedia (other dates in Quick answers). 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 Chatfield’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The city was named after Judge Andrew G. Chatfield. It was founded in 1853 by Andrew Twiford, and originally served as the Fillmore county seat prior to the county being further divided. The founding population was overwhelmingly from New England. The New Englanders who founded Chatfield built a community that became so successful it was dubbed "the Chosen Valley". During the American Civil War, the Chatfield Guards militia distinguished themselves as Company A of the 2nd Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, and their commander, former engineer and newspaperman Captain (later promoted to colonel) Judson W. Bishop, later commanded the entire regiment.
Passages that mention Chatfield, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Fillmore County, Minnesota (Volume 1)1912 · page 428Read the page →
Read the text
Chatfield Schools. A small district schoolhouse was built in Chatfield in 1856, but the town had no public schools worthy of the name except the Chatfield Academy until March 8, 1862, when the Chatfield school district was incorporated by a special act of the legislature, under which act it is still conducted. In that year a system of graded schools was inaugurated on a small scale.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Fillmore County, Minnesota (Volume 1)1912 · page 138Read the page →
Read the text
In 1870 the Southern Minnesota railroad undertook to build a branch from Fountain to Chatfield, and the town of Chatfield voted bonds to the amount of $65,000, provided it was completed to that point by July 4, 1871. Work was commenced and some of the deeper cuts excavated, and it is reported that $70,000 was expended before the project was abandoned, which was done, as is alleged, on account of the great expense.
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
Chatfield, 1853 to 1954
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In 1853, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Chatfield’s post office opened in 1854, and the census of 1880 counted 9,001 people here.
How does Chatfield rank for history?
Chatfield is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns, #39 of 273 in Minnesota. 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.
What is on the National Register in Chatfield?
5 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Milo White House (listed 1982, the first).
How old are the homes in Chatfield?
26% of Chatfield’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.9 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1976.
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 Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (5), 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.
2009
2009
2009
2006
2006
2005
