The Chengwatana Township post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Chengwatana (1857), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 917169 years
Founding year: the first Chengwatana Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Chengwatana Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Chengwatana was an Ojibwa village, located along the lower course of the Snake River, Minnesota. Its name in Ojibwe was Zhingwaadena, a contraction of Zhingwaak-oodena or "White-Pine Town"; English uses the French transcription of the Ojibwe. After statehood of Wisconsin in 1848, the transient village became a permanent village located at the outlet of Cross Lake, on its south eastern shore, at the beginning of the lower course of the Snake River, named Snake River Dam. Elam Greeley, a lumberman, co-founder of Stillwater, and member of the Minnesota Territorial Legislature whom Greeley is named after, owned the Chengwatana toll dam at the outlet of Cross Lake.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Chengwatana Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1961Pine City sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Chengwatana Township.
Famous people
Famous people close to Chengwatana Township
Nobody well known was born in Chengwatana Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
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 Wikipedia, 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.
