The Danube post office opened in 1903, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Miles (1898), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 217 in 19102020 census: 458123 years
Founding year: the first Danube post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Danube’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Renville County's youngest incorporated municipality is Danube. The land on which the village is located was purchased by Fred Emde in 1878, later sold to August Sommerfield in 1893 and then transferred to Ferdinand A. Schroeder in 1899. A community was plotted in the north of Troy Township, Minnesota. Its residents referred to the community as Miles. Like many rural communities, the advent of the railroad (CMSTP&P) affected its origin. The Milwaukee Road RR had placed a siding at the location to serve a mile-long gravel pit 1/2 mile north. That railroad switch had become known as the Gravel Pit Station. The gravel was needed as track ballast for the railroad in its continued expansion. The local farmers were also in need of market rail access closer than the already established towns of Olivia (east) and Renville (west). The first building lots were plotted by F. A. Schroeder, …
Passages that mention Danube, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The history of Renville County, Minnesota1916 · page 1373Read the page →
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The Danube Review, published in the thriving and enterprising village of Danube, sometimes called the Baby Village of Renville county, was launched by Wallner Bros, on November 4. 1911. Two years later the senior member, E. C. Wallner, who edited and managed the Review, assumed full proprietorship. Charles A.
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The history of Renville County, Minnesota1916 · page 848Read the page →
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Tourists on their way westward along the famous well-traveled "Yellow Trail" through Renville county, after making an abrupt turn northward about five miles out of the county seat, suddenly come into view of the pleasant little village of Danube. Lying midway between and but a few miles from Olivia and Renville, it presents a surprising picture of quick development, considering its nearness to its older neighbors and its rather unpromising beginnings. Even a casual glance, however, at the gradually
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
Danube, 1898 to 1965
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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 Wikipedia, 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 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.
