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History · Godfrey Township

Godfrey Township’s post office opened in 1881, and 13% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1965 on.

1881first post office
0on the National Register
13%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Godfrey Township began

When was Godfrey Township founded?

1881

The Godfrey Township post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Godfrey (1881), Maplebay (1882) and Leeston (1898), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 294145 years
Founding year: the first Godfrey Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Godfrey 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 Godfrey Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Godfrey Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Godfrey Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Godfrey 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, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Godfrey
1881–1882
Maplebay
1882–1941
Leeston
1898–1910
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Maple Bay
Gone or out of use
Leeston Post Officepost officeMaplebay Post Officepost office
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Godfrey Township
Maple BayMaple Bay Free LutheranOur Saviors

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

The story so far

Godfrey Township, in brief

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

Godfrey Township is a township in Polk County, Minnesota, United States. It is part of the Grand Forks-ND-MN Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 327 at the 2000 census. Godfrey Township was organized in 1881, and named for Warren N. Godfrey, a pioneer settler.

Its first post office opened in 1881. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 313 to 294 (-6%).

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

Timeline

Godfrey Township, 1881 to 1965

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1881Post officeThe Godfrey post office opens
  3. 1882Post officeThe Godfrey post office closes
  4. 1882Post officeThe Maplebay post office opens
  5. 1898Post officeThe Leeston post office opens
  6. 20th century
  7. 1910Post officeThe Leeston post office closes
  8. 1941Post officeThe Maplebay post office closes
  9. 1965On 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.
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On the map

Godfrey Township on the map, 1965 to 1984

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

Godfrey Township on the 1965 USGS mapGodfrey Township on the 1984 USGS map1965Dugdale 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 Godfrey Township.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Woodside TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGarfield TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGrove Park-Tilden TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townOnstad TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Godfrey Township’s history

What year was Godfrey Township founded?

The Godfrey 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 →
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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.