The story
Read it all →How Cottonwood Township came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Cottonwood Township.
Cottonwood Township was organized in 1858. The township took its name from the Cottonwood River.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Quick answers
How Cottonwood Township began
When was Cottonwood Township founded?
1859
The Cottonwood Township post office opened in 1859, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Cottonwood (1859) and Sperl (1900), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 856167 years
Founding year: the first Cottonwood Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Cottonwood Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Cottonwood Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cottonwood Township’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Cottonwood
Sperl
Searles
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Searles
Gone or out of use
Searleslocale
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Cottonwood Township
CottonwoodSaint JohnsSaint Josephs
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Timeline
Cottonwood Township, 1859 to 1965
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1859Post officeThe Cottonwood post office opens
- 1874Post officeThe Cottonwood post office closes
- 20th century
- 1900Post officeThe Sperl post office opens
- 1902Post officeThe Sperl post office closes
- 1902Post officeThe Searles post office opens
- 1965
On 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 albumOn the map
Cottonwood Township on the map, 1965 to 1991
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cottonwood Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1965Hanska sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Cottonwood Township.
On the National Register
1 listing protects 15 historic buildings
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
15
each building in a district counts
first listed
1989
Flandrau State Park CCC/WPA/Rustic Style Histor…
Districts
Architectural styles listings
NPS Rustic1
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
New Ulm22 historic placesA−Courtland TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCambria Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSigel TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLinden Township2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMilford Township2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town
Questions about Cottonwood Township’s history
What year was Cottonwood Township founded?
The Cottonwood Township post office opened in 1859, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What is on the National Register in Cottonwood Township?
One place: the Flandrau State Park CCC/WPA/Rustic Style Historic Resources (listed 1989).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.