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History · Farmington Township

28% of Farmington Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: 11 old photos and papers and maps from 1939 on.

0on the National Register
28%homes built before 1940
11old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Farmington Township’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Farmington Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Farmington Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

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

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

Farm Hill
1863–1887
Potsdam
1873–1905
Ringe
1898–1902
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
PotsdamRinge
Gone or out of use
Potsdam Post Officepost officeRinge Post Officepost office
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Farmington Township
Farm HillGreenlandPleasant PrairiePotsdam LutheranZion

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

The story so far

Farmington Township, in brief

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

Farmington Township is a township in Olmsted County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 516 at the 2000 census. Farmington Township was organized in 1858, and named for their fertile farmland.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 444 to 399 (-10%).

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

Timeline

Farmington Township, 1863 to 1939

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1863Post officeThe Farm Hill post office opens
  3. 1873Post officeThe Potsdam post office opens
  4. 1887Post officeThe Farm Hill post office closes
  5. 1898Post officeThe Ringe post office opens
  6. 20th century
  7. 1902Post officeThe Ringe post office closes
  8. 1905Post officeThe Potsdam post office closes
  9. 1939In the archiveStores. Farmington, Minnesota
  10. 1939On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Farmington Township, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s11 items
Stores. Farmington, Minnesota1939Stores. Farmington, MinnesotaRailroad station. Farmington, Minnesota1939Railroad station. Farmington, MinnesotaMilk receiving station1939Milk receiving stationMotion picture theatre. Farmington, Minnesota1939Motion picture theatre. Farmington, MinnesotaRunning milk cans through sterilizing machine1939Running milk cans through sterilizing machineUnloading a milk truck at pasteurizing plant1939Unloading a milk truck at pasteurizing plantUntitled photo, possibly related to: Milk receiving station1939Untitled photo, possibly related to: Milk receiving s…Untitled photo, possibly related to: Running milk cans through sterilizing machine1939Untitled photo, possibly related to: Running milk can…Untitled photo, possibly related to: Running milk cans through sterilizing machine1939Untitled photo, possibly related to: Running milk can…Untitled photo, possibly related to: Unloading a milk truck at pasteurizing plant1939Untitled photo, possibly related to: Unloading a milk…Untitled photo, possibly related to: Unloading a milk truck at pasteurizing plant1939Untitled photo, possibly related to: Unloading a milk…
1940s–1990snothing 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
On the map

Farmington Township on the map, 1939 to 1972

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

Farmington Township on the 1939 USGS mapFarmington Township on the 1972 USGS map1939Rochester sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Farmington Township.

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.

Stores. Farmington, Minnesota
Retake this viewStores. Farmington, Minnesota, 1939

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

Retake this view · +15
Help out

Finish Farmington Township’s story

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewStores. Farmington, Minnesota: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Haverhill TownshipIts storyCElgin Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townOronoco Township1 historic placeC

Questions about Farmington Township’s history

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 the Library of Congress (11), 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.