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History · Copley Township

Copley Township’s post office opened in 1895

Most of Copley Township was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. Below: maps from 1943 on.

1895first post office
0on the National Register
7%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Copley Township began

When was Copley Township founded?

1895

The Copley Township post office opened in 1895, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Copley (1895), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 867131 years
Founding year: the first Copley Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Copley 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 Copley Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
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Start Copley Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Copley Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story so far

Copley Township, in brief

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

Copley Township is a township in Clearwater County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 867 at the 2020 census. Copley Township was named for Lafayette Copley, a pioneer settler.

Its first post office opened in 1895. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 872 in 2010, 867 in 2020.

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

Timeline

Copley Township, 1895 to 1943

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1895Post officeThe Copley post office opens
  3. 1899Post officeThe Copley post office closes
  4. 20th century
  5. 1943On 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.

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On the map

Copley Township on the map, 1943 to 1985

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

Copley Township on the 1943 USGS mapCopley Township on the 1969 USGS mapCopley Township on the 1985 USGS map1943Bagley 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 Copley Township.

Famous people

Famous people close to Copley Township

Nobody well known was born in Copley Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Arnie JohnsonNational Basketball League player · b. 1920
Wes WestrumAmerican baseball player and coach · b. 1922
S
Steve KnutsonAmerican football player · b. 1951
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Ed WidsethAmerican football player · b. 1910
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Another post office, Copley, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Gone or out of use
The Last Resort Airportairport

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

BagleyIts storyC+Holst TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPopple Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townShevlin Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townNora TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Copley Township’s history

What year was Copley Township founded?

The Copley Township post office opened in 1895, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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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.