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History · Donnelly Township

52% of Donnelly Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1910 on and the census since 1900.

0on the National Register
52%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Myotus · CC BY 4.0

What stands out about Donnelly 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 Donnelly Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Donnelly Township’s homes were built before 1938.Boom and bustPeaked at 396 in 1950; 221 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Donnelly Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Donnelly 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

How Donnelly Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Donnelly Township.

Read it all →

Donnelly was originally called Douglas, and under the latter name was laid out in 1872. The present name is in honor of Ignatius L. Donnelly, a U.S. Congressman from Minnesota. A post office called Donnelly has been in operation since 1876.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

People over time

Donnelly Township, census by census

01002003004001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 396

Peaked at 396 in 1950; 221 people lived here in 2020.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Donnelly Township’s Wikipedia page.

Timeline

Donnelly Township, 1891 to 1950

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1891Post officeThe Moose Island post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1908Post officeThe Moose Island post office closes
  5. 1910On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1950CensusPopulation peaks at 396
By decade

Donnelly Township, decade by decade

Today5 recent
Donnelly, Minnesota 042024Donnelly, Minnesota 04Donnelly, Minnesota 032024Donnelly, Minnesota 03Donnelly, Minnesota 022024Donnelly, Minnesota 02Donnelly, Minnesota 012024Donnelly, Minnesota 01Donnelly Community Hall2024Donnelly Community Hall
On the map

Donnelly Township on the map, 1910 to 1973

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

Donnelly Township on the 1910 USGS mapDonnelly Township on the 1973 USGS map1910Chokio 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 Donnelly Township.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

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

Gone or out of use
Moose IslandlocaleMoose Island Post Officepost officeSchool Number 42schoolSchool Number 56schoolSchool Number 63school

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.

DonnellyIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPepperton TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townRendsville TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMacsville TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townEldorado TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Donnelly 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 Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikipedia, 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.