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History · Friberg Township

Friberg Township’s post office opened in 1881, and 12% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1915 on.

1881first post office
0on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Friberg Township began

When was Friberg Township founded?

1881

The Friberg Township post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Friberg (1881), Edward (1890) and Rumsey (1890), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 800145 years
Founding year: the first Friberg Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Friberg 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 Friberg Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages4 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Friberg Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Friberg Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Friberg 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

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

Friberg
1881–1891
Edward
1890–1906
Rumsey
1890–1906
Weggeland
1897–1909
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Edwards
Gone or out of use
Edwards Post Officepost officeEdwards SchoolschoolElliott SchoolschoolFriberg Post Officepost officeRumsey Post Officepost officeSchool Number 169schoolSchool Number 193schoolSchool Number 207schoolWeggeland Post Officepost office
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Friberg Township
Immanuel Lutheran ChurchSaint PaulTonseth Lutheran Church

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

The story so far

Friberg Township, in brief

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

Friberg Township is a township in Otter Tail County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 800 at the 2020 census. Friberg Township was organized in 1874, and named after Freiburg, in Germany.

Its first post office opened in 1881. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 809 in 2010, 800 in 2020.

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

Timeline

Friberg Township, 1881 to 1915

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1881Post officeThe Friberg post office opens
  3. 1890Post officeThe Edward post office opens
  4. 1890Post officeThe Rumsey post office opens
  5. 1891Post officeThe Friberg post office closes
  6. 20th century
  7. 1906Post officeThe Edward post office closes
  8. 1906Post officeThe Rumsey post office closes
  9. 1915On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Friberg Township, decade by decade

Today1 recent
Taplin George Dam2015Taplin George Dam
On the map

Friberg Township on the map, 1915 to 1973

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

Friberg Township on the 1915 USGS mapFriberg Township on the 1973 USGS map1915Underwood 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 Friberg Township.

Famous people

Famous people close to Friberg Township

Nobody well known was born in Friberg Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Dave GoltzAmerican baseball player · b. 1949
R
Roger L. HansonAmerican politician · b. 1925
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Maine Township2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMaplewood TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townElizabeth TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAurdal TownshipIts storyC−

Questions about Friberg Township’s history

What year was Friberg Township founded?

The Friberg Township post office opened in 1881, 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 Wikimedia Commons (1), 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.