Cold Spring’s post office opened in 1889, and 3 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 51% of U.S. towns · #108 of 273 in Minnesota. What drives it
Most of Cold Spring was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1992. Its Register listings are the Eugene Hermanutz House, the Ferdinand Peters House and the John Oster House. Below: 9 old photos and papers, maps from 1895 on, and the census since 1900.
From Cold Spring’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers
How Cold Spring began
When was Cold Spring founded?
1889
The Cold Spring post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Cold Spring City (1857), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 486 in 19002020 census: 4,164137 years
How historic is Cold Spring?
B−
More historic than 51% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Cold Spring post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Cold Spring’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cold Spring is more historic than 51% of U.S. towns, #108 of 273 in Minnesota. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Cold Spring’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 Cold Spring’s 9.4 sits above most of its state (76% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 4 historic buildings outnumber those of 68% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.0 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (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 Cold Spring’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1895Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Originally home to the Ojibwe, Winnebago, and Dakota people, Cold Spring was platted in 1856, and named for the many springs near the original town site. A post office has been in operation at Cold Spring since 1857.
German-speaking Catholics settled in the area, lured by the Slovenian missionary priest Francis Xavier Pierz, who had submitted letters and advertisements to the major German-language newspapers across the U.S., such as Der Wahrheitsfreund (The Friend of Truth), and in Europe, urging "good, pious" German Catholics to come to the Sauk River Valley, which he called a "land flowing with milk and honey" and safe from disease and anti-Catholic oppression.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Cold Spring post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Cold Spring rank for history?
Cold Spring is more historic than 51% of U.S. towns, #108 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 Cold Spring?
Three places: the Eugene Hermanutz House (listed 1982), the Ferdinand Peters House (1982) and the John Oster House (1982).
How old are the homes in Cold Spring?
8% of Cold Spring’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.0 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1992.
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 Library of Congress (9), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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