Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Effie

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 · Effie

Effie’s post office opened in 1903

Most of Effie was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1967. Below: 9 old photos and papers, maps from 1971 on, and the census since 1950.

1903first post office
0on the National Register
2%homes built before 1940
9old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Effie’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Effie began

When was Effie founded?

1903

The Effie post office opened in 1903, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 202 in 19502020 census: 109123 years
Founding year: the first Effie post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
The story

How Effie came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Effie.

Read it all →

A post office was established in Effie in 1903. The community was named after Effie Wenaus, the daughter of the city's first postmaster.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Effie, 1903 to 1995

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1903Post officeThe Effie post office opens
  3. 1937In the archiveLoading device moving railroad cars full of timber
  4. 1971On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1991Post officeThe Effie post office closes
  6. 1995In the archiveEdge of the Wilderness - Gigantic Mosquito in
By decade

Effie, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1930s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s6 items
Loading device moving railroad cars full of timber1937Loading device moving railroad cars full of timberLoading logs onto railroad car1937Loading logs onto railroad carLogs on skidway just before being loaded on railway car1937Logs on skidway just before being loaded on railway c…Lumberjack washing clothes at logging camp near1937Lumberjack washing clothes at logging camp nearLumberjack washing clothes. Camp near1937Lumberjack washing clothes. Camp nearPartially-loaded car of lumber1937Partially-loaded car of lumber
1940s–1980snothing 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
1990s2 items
Edge of the Wilderness - Gigantic Mosquito in1995Edge of the Wilderness - Gigantic Mosquito inEdge of the Wilderness - The Gateway to Edge of the Wilderness in1995Edge of the Wilderness - The Gateway to Edge of the W…
Date unknown1 to date
EffieMNWelcomeSignAndMosquitoDate?EffieMNWelcomeSignAndMosquito
Today3 recent
Effie Presbyterian Church, Minnesota2017Effie Presbyterian Church, MinnesotaMNMap-doton-Effie2005MNMap-doton-EffieEdge of the Wilderness - Roadside Cafe in2003Edge of the Wilderness - Roadside Cafe in
On the map

Effie on the map in 1971

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Effie.

Effie on the 1971 USGS map1971Effie 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 Effie.

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.

Loading device moving railroad cars full of timber
Retake this viewLoading device moving railroad cars full of timber, 1937

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Effie, census by census

01002001960198020002020Peak: 202

Between 91 and 202 people in every census since 1950.

8 censuses, 1950–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Effie had its own post office from 1903 to 1991.

Effie
1903–1991
19001960today
Gone or out of use
EffielocaleEffie Post Officepost office

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

Help out

Finish Effie’s story

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 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 viewLoading device moving railroad cars ful…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Effie’s history

What year was Effie founded?

The Effie post office opened in 1903, 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 (12), 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.