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History · Excel Township

Excel Township’s post office opened in 1889, and 16% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1961 on.

1889first post office
0on the National Register
16%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Excel Township began

When was Excel Township founded?

1889

The Excel Township post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Labree (1883), Excel (1889) and Manor (1901), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 310137 years
Founding year: the first Excel Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Excel 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 Excel Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Excel Township.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Excel Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Labree
1883–1889
Excel
1889–1905
Manor
1901–1908
18801950today
Gone or out of use
Excel Post Officepost officeManor Post Officepost office
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Excel Township
SatersdalSilver Creek

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

The story so far

Excel Township, in brief

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

Excel Township is a township in Marshall County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 280 at the 2000 census. Excel Township was organized in 1884, and named after Excelsior, Minnesota.

Its first post office opened in 1889. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 300 to 310 (+3%).

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

Timeline

Excel Township, 1883 to 1961

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1883Post officeThe Labree post office opens
  3. 1889Post officeThe Labree post office closes
  4. 1889Post officeThe Excel post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1901Post officeThe Manor post office opens
  7. 1905Post officeThe Excel post office closes
  8. 1908Post officeThe Manor post office closes
  9. 1961On 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

Excel Township on the map, 1961 to 1992

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

Excel Township on the 1961 USGS mapExcel Township on the 1976 USGS mapExcel Township on the 1985 USGS mapExcel Township on the 1992 USGS map1961Thief River Falls NW 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 Excel Township.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

North TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townNew Solum TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHolt TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAgder TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townEast Valley TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Excel Township’s history

What year was Excel Township founded?

The Excel Township post office opened in 1889, 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 →
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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.