Its Register listings are the Commercial Bank Building, the Dawson Carnegie Library and the Dawson Armory and Community Building. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1967 on, and the census since 1890.
Founding year: the first Dawson post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Dawson’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Dawson is more historic than 80% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Dawson’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 Dawson’s 19.8 sits above most of its state (84% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.2 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 Dawson’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The land Dawson sits on was originally home to the Wahpekute, Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, and Yanktonai people, three bands of the Dakota. Land was ceded to the US government by the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux in 1851. The treaties were signed on July 23 and August 6 in Traverse des Sioux and Mendota respectively. The land was ceded in exchange for $3,750,000, about 12 cents per acre. Little of the payment was actually received by the Dakota.
Dawson was platted in 1884. The city was named for William Dawson, a former mayor of St. Paul, and one of three partners in the Dawson Townsite Company. A post office has been in operation at Dawson since 1884. The city was incorporated in 1885.
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 Dawson post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Dawson rank for history?
Dawson is more historic than 80% of U.S. towns. 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 Dawson?
Three places: the Commercial Bank Building (listed 1982), the Dawson Carnegie Library (1985) and the Dawson Armory and Community Building (1995).
How old are the homes in Dawson?
39% of Dawson’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.2 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1953.
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 (3), the Library of Congress (5), 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) 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.
1942
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1942
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2013
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