Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Elmo 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 · Elmo Township

Elmo Township’s post office opened in 1872, and 23% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1969 on.

1872first post office
0on the National Register
23%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Elmo Township began

When was Elmo Township founded?

1872

The Elmo Township post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Elmo (1872) and Almora (1903), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 323154 years
Founding year: the first Elmo Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Elmo 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 Elmo Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Elmo Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Elmo Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

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

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

Elmo
1872–1885
Almora
1903–1954
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Almora
Gone or out of use
Almora Post Officepost officeElmo Post Officepost office
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Elmo Township
Gausdale Lutheran ChurchOak RidgeSaint Paul's Lutheran Church

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

The story so far

Elmo Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Elmo Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Elmo Township is a township in Otter Tail County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 323 at the 2020 census. Elmo Township was organized in 1880.

Its first post office opened in 1872. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 331 to 323 (-2%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Elmo Township, 1872 to 1969

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1872Post officeThe Elmo post office opens
  3. 1885Post officeThe Elmo post office closes
  4. 20th century
  5. 1903Post officeThe Almora post office opens
  6. 1954Post officeThe Almora post office closes
  7. 1969On 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.
Add from your album
On the map

Elmo Township on the map, 1969 to 1986

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

Elmo Township on the 1969 USGS mapElmo Township on the 1986 USGS map1969Parkers Prairie 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 Elmo Township.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Folden TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWoodside TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townParkers Prairie TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townInman TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Elmo Township’s history

What year was Elmo Township founded?

The Elmo Township post office opened in 1872, 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 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.