Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Dresbach Township

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Dresbach Township

Dresbach Township’s post office opened in 1866, and 18% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1956 on, and the census since 1880.

1866first post office
0on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Dresbach Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Dresbach Township began

When was Dresbach Township founded?

1866

The Dresbach Township post office opened in 1866, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Dresbach City (1858), Sherwood (1864) and Dresbach (1866), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 185 in 18802020 census: 410160 years
Founding year: the first Dresbach Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Dresbach 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 writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Dresbach Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Dresbach Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Dresbach Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewUpper Mississippi River 9-Foot Channel …: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Dresbach City
1858–1864
Sherwood
1864–1866
Dresbach
1866–1985
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Dresbach
Gone or out of use
DresbachlocaleDresbach Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Dresbach Township
Dresbach

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

The story

How Dresbach Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Dresbach Township.

Read it all →

Both the community and township were named after George B. Dresbach, who founded the community and was a representative in the state legislature. The post office was established in 1858 as Dresbach City, then changed to Sherwood in 1864, then back to Dresbach in 1866. The community once had a station on the former Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad, a sawmill, and several brickyards, lead mines, and limestone and sandstone quarries.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Dresbach Township, 1858 to 1985

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1858Post officeThe Dresbach City post office opens
  3. 1864Post officeThe Dresbach City post office closes
  4. 1864Post officeThe Sherwood post office opens
  5. 1866Post officeThe Sherwood post office closes
  6. 1866Post officeThe Dresbach post office opens
  7. 20th century
  8. 1956On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 1985Post officeThe Dresbach post office closes
By decade

Dresbach Township, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Upper Mississippi River 9-Foot Channel Project, Lock & Dam No. 7Date?Upper Mississippi River 9-Foot Channel Project, Lock …
Today4 recent
Dresbach, Minnesota from water2023Dresbach, Minnesota from waterA late-fall view of the Mississippi River off Dresbach, Minnesota2019A late-fall view of the Mississippi River off Dresbac…The 1883 Remp's Block commercial building2019The 1883 Remp's Block commercial buildingDresbachMinnesotaPanoramaI902010DresbachMinnesotaPanoramaI90
On the map

Dresbach Township on the map, 1956 to 1991

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

Dresbach Township on the 1956 USGS mapDresbach Township on the 1973 USGS mapDresbach Township on the 1991 USGS map1956La Crescent 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 Dresbach Township.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Upper Mississippi River 9-Foot Channel Project, Lock & Dam No. 7
Retake this viewUpper Mississippi River 9-Foot Channel Project, Lock & Dam No. 7

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Dresbach Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Dresbach Township, census by census

010020030018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 285

Between 174 and 285 people in every census since 1880.

5 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Dresbach Township

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

See all →
Joseph LoseyAmerican filmmaker and theatre director · b. 1909
Charles DierkopAmerican actor · b. 1936
Ford SterlingAmerican comedian · b. 1882
Hamlin GarlandAmerican novelist, poet, essayist, short story … · b. 1860
John TolandAmerican writer · b. 1912
William HauberActor · b. 1891
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

La Crescent1 historic placeC+New Hartford TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLa Crescent TownshipIts storyC

Questions about Dresbach Township’s history

What year was Dresbach Township founded?

The Dresbach Township post office opened in 1866, 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 →
Start a conversation
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 (2), the Library of Congress (3), 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.