Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Clay Township

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Clay Township

Half of Clay Township’s homes were built after 1986

Most of Clay Township was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1986. Below: maps from 1972 on.

0on the National Register
1%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Clay 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 Clay Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Clay Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Clay Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Clay Township’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
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone

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

Emmaville
1900–1917
Oran
1903–1909
19001960today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Emmaville
Gone or out of use
Emmaville Post Officepost officeOran Post Officepost office

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

The story so far

Clay Township, in brief

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

Clay Township is a township in Hubbard County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 76 at the 2020 census. Clay Township was named for natural deposits of clay within its borders.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 69 to 76 (+10%).

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

Timeline

Clay Township, 1900 to 1972

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1900Post officeThe Emmaville post office opens
  3. 1903Post officeThe Oran post office opens
  4. 1909Post officeThe Oran post office closes
  5. 1917Post officeThe Emmaville post office closes
  6. 1972On 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.
Add from your album
On the map

Clay Township on the map in 1972

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Clay Township.

Clay Township on the 1972 USGS map1972Mantrap Lake 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 Clay Township.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Lake Emma TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLake George TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townClover TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townThorpe Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Clay Township’s history

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 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.