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History · Garden City Township

Garden City Township’s post office opened in 1857, and 24% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the First Baptist Church and the Gail, James P., Farmhouse. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1951 on, and the census since 1870.

1857first post office
2on the National Register
24%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Garden City Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Garden City Township began

When was Garden City Township founded?

1857

The Garden City Township post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 368 in 18702020 census: 844169 years
Founding year: the first Garden City Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Garden City 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 writtenOnly 4 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Garden City Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewGarden City Roller Mill, Garden City, M…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Garden City Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Garden City Township.

Read it all →

The community was named from the garden-like setting of the original town site. The First Baptist Church building was completed in 1868.

The Blue Earth County Fair has been held in Garden City since 1860 with the exception of a few years the fair was cancelled.

In 1921, on a visit from London, Henry Wellcome donated land he had purchased to the hamlet of Garden City to build a consolidated school. The school that was built on the site became Wellcome Memorial school, eventually combining with Rapidan, Vernon Center, and Lake Crystal school districts. The building now serves as the site of Wellcome Manor Family Services.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Garden City Township, 1857 to 1951

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1857Post officeThe Garden City post office opens
  3. 1870In the archiveGarden City Roller Mill, Garden City, Minnesota - DPLA - 6ec8f2ca9e02639c252c894ea3d013f2
  4. 1890In the archivePortrait of Andrew Friend, Garden City, Minnesota - DPLA - 142d9aac53d1b22f0e023c4cd7b06e…
  5. 20th century
  6. 1908In the archiveRailroad wreck, near Garden City, Minnesota - DPLA - 5f39d4ccf13de0bfb220a56ce0483ebc
  7. 1951On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Garden City Township, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1870s–1900s4 items
Garden City Roller Mill, Garden City, Minnesota - DPLA - 6ec8f2ca9e02639c252c894ea3d013f21870Garden City Roller Mill, Garden City, Minnesota - DPL…Portrait of Andrew Friend, Garden City, Minnesota - DPLA - 142d9aac53d1b22f0e023c4cd7b06e13c. 1890Portrait of Andrew Friend, Garden City, Minnesota - D…Railway cars near the mill, Garden City, Minnesota - DPLA - 05fce032b7e68c6c55c97a2df6ea6a2f1899Railway cars near the mill, Garden City, Minnesota - …Railroad wreck, near Garden City, Minnesota - DPLA - 5f39d4ccf13de0bfb220a56ce0483ebcc. 1908Railroad wreck, near Garden City, Minnesota - DPLA - …
1910s–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
Today1 recent
Garden City, Minnesota2024Garden City, Minnesota
On the map

Garden City Township on the map, 1951 to 1974

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

Garden City Township on the 1951 USGS mapGarden City Township on the 1974 USGS map1951Mankato West 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 Garden City 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.

Garden City Roller Mill, Garden City, Minnesota - DPLA - 6ec8f2ca9e02639c252c894ea3d013f2
Retake this viewGarden City Roller Mill, Garden City, Minnesota - DPLA - 6ec8f2ca9e02639c252c894ea3d013f2, 1870

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

2 historic places in Garden City Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1980
First Baptist Church
First Baptist ChurchGail, James P., Farmhouse
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Greek Revival1
Octagonal Farmhouse1
First Baptist ChurchGreek Revival
Gail, James P., FarmhouseOctagonal Farmhouse

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Garden City Township, census by census

010020030040018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 368

Between 255 and 368 people in every census since 1870.

4 censuses, 1870–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Garden City Township’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Garden City
Gone or out of use
Garden Citylocale
1cemetery inside Garden City Township
Garden City

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Lake CrystalIts storyC+Vernon Center TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townRapidan TownshipIts storyB−Lincoln TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townJudson Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Garden City Township’s history

What year was Garden City Township founded?

The Garden City Township post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Garden City Township?

Two places: the First Baptist Church (listed 1980) and the Gail, James P., Farmhouse (1980).

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 (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.