Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Bobak Ha'Eri · CC BY 3.0More historic than 59% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Geldner Sawmill. Below: maps from 1985 on and the census since 1880.
Elysian Township dates its founding to 1856 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 59% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Elysian Township is more historic than 59% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
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 Elysian Township’s 13.5 sits above most of its state (80% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Elysian Township’s history is told.
Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia’s history of Elysian Township.
Elysian was platted in 1856, and named for Elysium in Greek mythology. Elysian was incorporated in 1884.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
2026Corner Bar, Main Street
2026City Hall
2026Businesses on Main Street
2026Businesses on Main Street and First Street, Elysian, …
2026Businesses on Main Street and First Street, Elysian, …
2026Business on Main Street
2026Bank building on Main Street
2018US Post Office - Elysian, Minnesota in Winter
20092009-0805-MN-Elysian
2008Elysian
2008Elysian
2005MNMap-doton-ElysianThe U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Elysian Township.
1985Faribault sheet · 1:100,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Elysian Township.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Grew from 167 people in 1880 to 708 in 2020, 4 times over.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Elysian Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Elysian Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1856, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Elysian Township’s post office opened in 1859, and the census of 1880 counted 167 people here.
Elysian Township is more historic than 59% 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.
One place: the Geldner Sawmill (listed 1975).
17% of Elysian Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.8 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1977.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (12), 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) 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.
