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History · Dora Township

Dora Township’s post office opened in 1880

Most of Dora Township was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1994. Below: maps from 1912 on.

1880first post office
0on the National Register
8%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Dora Township began

When was Dora Township founded?

1880

The Dora Township post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Spirit Lake (1879) and Dora (1880), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 697146 years
Founding year: the first Dora Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Dora 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 Dora Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Dora Township.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Dora Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Dora 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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Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Spirit Lake
1879–1906
Dora
1880–1906
18701950today
Gone or out of use
Dora Post Offiepost officeSpirit Lake Post Officepost office
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Dora Township
Free ThoughtSacred Heart Catholic ChurchSaint JohnsWeimann CommunityWest Dora

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

The story

How Dora Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Dora Township.

Read it all →

Dora Township was organized on July 22, 1879, and was named in 1879 after Isadora Sedalia (Woodruff) Thomas, one of the first settlers in the area. Dora and her husband Ellis took a homestead in 1876 near the intersection of County Roads 4 and 41.

Many of the original settlers in the township were Germans who came in the 1880s.

The First Congregational Church of West Dora was incorporated in 1889. Dora Presbyterian Church incorporated in 1902. The Evangelical Lutheran Church, St. John's congregation, was incorporated in 1915.

ChaptersEarly religious organizations

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Dora Township, 1879 to 1912

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1879Post officeThe Spirit Lake post office opens
  3. 1880Post officeThe Dora post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1906Post officeThe Spirit Lake post office closes
  6. 1906Post officeThe Dora post office closes
  7. 1912On 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.
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On the map

Dora Township on the map, 1912 to 1973

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

Dora Township on the 1912 USGS mapDora Township on the 1973 USGS map1912Vergas 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 Dora Township.

Famous people

Famous people close to Dora Township

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

See all →
Dave ReichertFormer United States Representative from Washin… · b. 1950
B
Bud TingelstadAmerican racing driver · b. 1928
Adam ThielenAmerican football player · b. 1990
Janet BenshoofAmerican lawyer · b. 1947
K
Kieth EngenAmerican operatic bass singer · b. 1925
Jeff JohnsonAmerican politician from Hennepin County, Minne… · b. 1966
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Candor TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townEdna TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townStar Lake TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLida TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Dora Township’s history

What year was Dora Township founded?

The Dora Township post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 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.