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Downtown Duluth, Minnesota Skyline (25406820466) (cropped)Photo: Tony Webster from San Francisco, California · CC BY-SA 2.0
B+History
History · Duluth Township

Duluth Township dates to 1679, and 18% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 70% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: 8 old photos and papers, maps from 1953 on, and the census since 1860.

1679founded
0on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
8old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Duluth Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Duluth Township began

When was Duluth Township founded?

1679

Duluth Township dates its founding to 1679 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1860.

First census: 80 in 18602020 census: 2,039347 years

How historic is Duluth Township?

B+

More historic than 70% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1856.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Duluth Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Duluth Township is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Duluth Township’s overall grade.
Founding era1679, from Wikidata: founded before 1776, an older era than 96% of U.S. townsA+Homes built before 194017.8% of homes (±5.9) · typical MN town 8.1% · U.S. 8.4%B+National RegisterNo listings counted · typical MN town 2.1 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 70%
NewerOlder

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 Duluth Township’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (23% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1679.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.9 points).

Founding year: Wikidata (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 Duluth Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Lost villages5 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Duluth Township, and 3 old place names are still on the map.Older than the countryEstablished in 1679, 97 years before the Declaration of Independence.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

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

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

French River
1856–1938
Clifton
1879–1879
Molde
1902–1914
Palmers
1913–1925
Clover Valley
1914–1915
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
CliftonFrench RiverPalmers
Gone or out of use
Clifton Post Officepost officeFrench River Post Officepost officeMolde Post Officepost officePalmers Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Duluth Township
Lake View

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

Timeline

Duluth Township, 1679 to 1953

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

  1. 17th century
  2. 1679
    FoundingDuluth Township is established
  3. 19th century
  4. 1856Post officeThe French River post office opens
  5. 1870In the archiveA business view, (or card), of Duluth, Minnesota; looking landward; taken December, 1870
  6. 1879Post officeThe Clifton post office opens
  7. 1879Post officeThe Clifton post office closes
  8. 1880In the archiveHead and shoulders portrait of Sarah B. Stearns, 1880 (cropped)
  9. 20th century
  10. 1902Post officeThe Molde post office opens
  11. 1914Post officeThe Molde post office closes
  12. 1938Post officeThe French River post office closes
  13. 1953On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story

How Duluth Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Duluth Township.

Read it all →

For both the Ojibwe and the Dakota, interaction with Europeans during the contact period revolved around the fur trade and related activities. In Ojibwe, the area now known as Duluth is called Onigamiinsing or Misaabekong.

According to Ojibwe oral history, Spirit Island, near the Spirit Valley neighborhood, was the "Sixth Stopping Place" where the northern and southern branches of the Ojibwe Nation came together and proceeded to their "Seventh Stopping Place" near the present city of La Pointe, Wisconsin. The "Stopping Places" were places the Native Americans occupied during their westward migration because of their war with the Haudenosaunee and as Europeans overran their territory.

ChaptersNative historyExploration and fur tradePermanent settlement20th century21st century

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Duluth Township, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1880s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1870s5 items
A business view, (or card), of Duluth, Minnesota; looking landward; taken December, 18701870A business view, (or card), of Duluth, Minnesota; loo…Lake Superior and Mississippi Freight Depot at1870sLake Superior and Mississippi Freight Depot atLake Superior and Mississippi Railroad Freight Depot at1870sLake Superior and Mississippi Railroad Freight Depot …Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad Freight Depot at1870sLake Superior and Mississippi Railroad Freight Depot …Minnesota Point1875Minnesota Point
1880s3 items
Head and shoulders portrait of Sarah B. Stearns, 1880 (cropped)1880Head and shoulders portrait of Sarah B. Stearns, 1880…Head and shoulders portrait of Sarah B. Stearns, 18801880Head and shoulders portrait of Sarah B. Stearns, 1880Duluth & the Unsalted Sea -- 18871887Duluth & the Unsalted Sea -- 1887
1890s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
On the map

Duluth Township on the map, 1953 to 1992

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

Duluth Township on the 1953 USGS mapDuluth Township on the 1969 USGS mapDuluth Township on the 1992 USGS map1953French River sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Duluth 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.

A business view, (or card), of Duluth, Minnesota; looking landward; taken December, 1870
Retake this viewA business view, (or card), of Duluth, Minnesota; looking landward; taken December, 1870, 1870

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Duluth Township, census by census

020,00040,00060,00080,000100,000120,000190019502000Peak: 107,312

Between 80 and 107,312 people in every census since 1860.

17 censuses, 1860–2020.

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

Help out

Finish Duluth Township’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewA business view, (or card), of Duluth, …: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Normanna TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLakewood TownshipIts storyC−Alden TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townKnife RiverIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Duluth Township’s history

What year was Duluth Township founded?

In 1679, according to Wikidata. Duluth Township’s post office opened in 1856, and the census of 1860 counted 80 people here.

How does Duluth Township rank for history?

Duluth Township is more historic than 70% 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.

How old are the homes in Duluth Township?

18% of Duluth Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.9 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1983.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (8), Wikidata (4), 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.