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History · Crooked Creek Township

32% of Crooked Creek Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1956 on and old-book passages.

0on the National Register
32%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Crooked Creek 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 Crooked Creek Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Crooked Creek Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Crooked Creek Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Crooked Creek 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, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Freeburg
1858–1947
Reno
1880–1935
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
FreeburgReno
Gone or out of use
Freeburg Post Officepost officeReno Post Officepost office
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Crooked Creek Township
Church of PeaceOld MethodistSaint Nicholas Catholic

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

The story so far

Crooked Creek Township, in brief

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

Crooked Creek Township is a township in Houston County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 285 at the 2010 census. The unincorporated community of Reno is located in the township. Crooked Creek Township was organized in 1858, and named from Crooked Creek.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 285 to 252 (-12%).

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

From the old history books

What they wrote about Crooked Creek Township in 1919

Passages that mention Crooked Creek Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.

The first white settlement in Crooked Creek Township was made in June, 1852, by George Powlesland, who came up from Iowa, where he had been working on a farm, and made a claim in section 36. He made several trips back and forth, on his second arrival, in the fall, being accompanied by George Little…
History of Houston County, Minnesota1919 · page 144Read the page →
Read the text

The first white settlement in Crooked Creek Township was made in June, 1852, by George Powlesland, who came up from Iowa, where he had been working on a farm, and made a claim in section 36. He made several trips back and forth, on his second arrival, in the fall, being accompanied by George Littlefield and William Oxford. Owing to the ravages of a prairie fire, he found difficulty in locating his claim, but finally found it and erected a small cabin with an earth floor and a single window, to which early in January of the following year, he brought his family. Mr. Little-

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Crooked Creek Township, 1858 to 1956

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1858Post officeThe Freeburg post office opens
  3. 1880Post officeThe Reno post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1935Post officeThe Reno post office closes
  6. 1947Post officeThe Freeburg post office closes
  7. 1956On 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

Crooked Creek Township on the map, 1956 to 1980

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

Crooked Creek Township on the 1956 USGS mapCrooked Creek Township on the 1980 USGS map1956Brownsville 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 Crooked Creek Township.

Famous people

Famous people close to Crooked Creek Township

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

See all →
K
Ken NelsonAmerican record producer · b. 1911
D
Dave KunstWalked around the world · b. 1939
H
Herbert John BurgmanAmerican broadcaster · b. 1894
L
Lloyd L. DuxburyAmerican politician · b. 1922
M
Milt GantenbeinAmerican football player · b. 1910
Roy PattersonAmerican baseball player · b. 1876
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Jefferson Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMayville TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBrownsville TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWinnebago Township2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Crooked Creek Township’s history

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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.