–Not graded

History · Dundee

Dundee’s post office opened in 1879, and 51% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Sioux City and St. Paul Railroad Section House. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1970 on, and the census since 1900.

1879first post office

1on the National Register

51%homes built before 1940

1old photo or paper

Add an old photo Share a memory

From Dundee’s archive · credits on each photo

Quick answers

How Dundee began

When was Dundee founded?

1879

The Dundee post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 217 in 19002020 census: 73147 years

Founding year: the first Dundee post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Dundee’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.Old housesHalf of Dundee’s homes were built before 1938.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Dundee’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Dundee’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.+2 Retake an old viewDundee, Mn, topo: stand where they stood+15 Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

The story

How Dundee came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Dundee.

Read it all →

Dundee was established in 1879 when the St. Paul and Sioux City Railway Company built a branch line, then known as the Heron Lake & Black Hills Railroad. The first station out of Heron Lake was proposed in the extreme northeastern corner of Nobles County, and was originally named Warren, in honor of Joseph Warren who fell at the Battle of Bunker Hill. The town was surveyed and platted in July 1879, and construction of a depot began on August 13. Mr. G. Foils moved to town and assumed duties of stationmaster on September 1. He was also named postmaster when a post office was established on November 1, 1879. It was at this time that the name was changed to Dundee, after the city of Dundee, Scotland. The reason for the name change is lost to history, although it is known that stationmaster/postmaster G. Foils (whose first name is also lost to history) made the change. A Scottish C…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Dundee in 1908

Passages that mention Dundee, cut from the printed page as they were published.

Time was when Kinbrae was a larger and much more prosperous village than it now is. For years it lu-ld its own with the rival town of Dundee, and for a time was the better village of the two. All lines of business flourished and a big trade was catered to. But Dundee won out in the race for suprema… — **An illustrated history of Nobles County, Minnesota**1908 · page 264Read the page →
Read the text
Time was when Kinbrae was a larger and much more prosperous village than it now is. For years it lu-ld its own with the rival town of Dundee, and for a time was the better village of the two. All lines of business flourished and a big trade was catered to. But Dundee won out in the race for supremacy in
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

**An illustrated history of Nobles County, Minnesota**1908 · page 259Read the page →
Read the text
It was during the summer of 1879 that the land upon which Dundee was afterwards built was selected as a site for a town. The Sioux City & St. Paul Railroad company was then building wliat was at the time known as the Heron Lake & Black Hills railroad, and its first station out from the eastern
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

By decade

Dundee, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date

Date?Dundee, Mn, topo

On the map

Dundee on the map, 1970 to 1985

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

1970Dundee 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 Dundee.

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.

Retake this viewDundee, Mn, topo

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

Retake this view · +15

On the National Register

1 historic place in Dundee

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

1980

Sioux City and St. Paul Railroad Section House

Buildings

All 1 listings

Sioux City and St. Paul Railroad Section HouseBuilding · listed 1980

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Dundee, census by census

Between 68 and 222 people in every census since 1900.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Dundee’s post office has been open since 1879.

Gone or out of use

Dundeelocale

2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Dundee

First LutheranSaint Marys

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.

Graham Lakes TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Dundee’s history

What year was Dundee founded?

The Dundee post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Dundee?

One place: the Sioux City and St. Paul Railroad Section House (listed 1980).

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 (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.

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