Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Clinton

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 · Clinton

Clinton dates to 1877, and 38% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Depot. Its Register listing is the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Depot. Below: maps from 1953 on and the census since 1900.

1877founded
1on the National Register
38%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Clinton began

When was Clinton founded?

1877

Clinton dates its founding to 1877 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1900.

First census: 346 in 19002020 census: 386149 years
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1878.The full story ↓

What stands out about Clinton’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 Clinton are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 718 in 1950; 386 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Clinton’s homes were built before 1946.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Clinton’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Clinton’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
People over time

Clinton, census by census

02004006008001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 718

Peaked at 718 in 1950; 386 people lived here in 2020.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

The story

How Clinton came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Clinton.

Read it all →

The village was settled about 1877 as Central, Minnesota, with a post office of that name from 1878 to 1885. The name was changed to Clinton in 1885, and the village was platted. The Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad station, named Batavia, was moved to the village in 1885, but the station name was not changed to Clinton until the village was incorporated in 1890. The railroad loading platform, named Rupert, two miles south of the village, was moved to the village in 1890.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Clinton, 1877 to 1953

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1877
    FoundingClinton is established
  3. 1878Post officeThe Central post office opens
  4. 1885Post officeThe Central post office closes
  5. 1885Post officeThe Clinton post office opens
  6. 20th century
  7. 1950CensusPopulation peaks at 718
  8. 1953On 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

Clinton on the map, 1953 to 1985

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

Clinton on the 1953 USGS mapClinton on the 1971 USGS mapClinton on the 1985 USGS map1953Ortonville 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 Clinton.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Clinton

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
1986
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Depot
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Depot
Buildings
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific 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

Clinton’s post office has been open since 1885. Another post office, Central, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Central
1878–1885
Clinton
1885–today
18701950today
Gone or out of use
Clintonlocale

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

Questions about Clinton’s history

What year was Clinton founded?

In 1877, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Clinton’s post office opened in 1878, and the census of 1900 counted 346 people here.

What is on the National Register in Clinton?

One place: the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Depot (listed 1986).

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 Wikidata (1), 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.