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History · Foster Township

Foster Township’s post office opened in 1879, and 25% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1971 on.

1879first post office
0on the National Register
25%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Foster Township began, and where its name came from

When was Foster Township founded?

1879

The Foster Township post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Foster (1879), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 118147 years

How did Foster Township get its name?

Foster Township was named for Foster L. Balch.

Founding year: the first Foster Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓

What stands out about Foster 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 Foster Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Foster Township, and 3 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Foster Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Foster 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

Another post office, Foster, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Bonanza GroveFosterYankeetown
Gone or out of use
Foster Post Officepost office
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Foster Township
HoldenLakeside

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

The story

How Foster Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Foster Township.

Read it all →

Foster was platted in 1880. It was named for Foster L. Balch.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Foster Township, 1879 to 1971

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1879Post officeThe Foster post office opens
  3. 1885Post officeThe Foster post office closes
  4. 20th century
  5. 1971On 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

Foster Township on the map, 1971 to 1985

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

Foster Township on the 1971 USGS mapFoster Township on the 1985 USGS map1971Big Stone Lake West 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 Foster Township.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Browns Valley TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPrior TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Foster Township’s history

What year was Foster Township founded?

The Foster Township post office opened in 1879, 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 Wikipedia, 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.