The Goodhue post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Elmira (1857) and Goodhue Centre (1858), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 241 in 19002020 census: 1,250144 years
How historic is Goodhue?
C+
More historic than 39% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Goodhue post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Goodhue’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Goodhue is more historic than 39% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Goodhue’s overall grade.
Minnesota towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Minnesota town has 2.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Goodhue’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (23% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.5 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Goodhue’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Goodhue was incorporated in 1889. Goodhue formerly had a rail line running through the eastern edge of the incorporated area, roughly parallel to and west of State Highway 58.
The Goodhue Area Historical Society constructed a museum in the community named in honor of James M. Goodhue, a newspaperman who was the first editor of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Since the mid-1990s, Goodhue, like many Midwestern municipalities with medium to large elevator operations, has seen its housing base and population grow.
The first significant growth in 20 years began with construction of several homes in an annexed area north of Third Avenue and west of Sixth Street known as "East side".
Passages that mention Goodhue, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Dakota and Goodhue counties, Minnesota /1910 · page 181Read the page →
Read the text
When the Duluth, Red Wing & Southern railroad from Red Wing to Zumbrota was in course of construction during the year 1888 it was then that the village of Goodhue came into existence, at first consisting of the railroad camps which were here located during the building of several miles of the road up and down the line, the road being completed in the spring and early summer of 1889. When there was no longer any use for the railroad camps at this place and the tents and so forth had all been
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Dakota and Goodhue counties, Minnesota /1910 · page 309Read the page →
Read the text
Goodhue. — The office of Goodhue Center, which later became Goodhue, was established in 1858*on what is known as the Hadler farm, at the present time about two miles east of Goodhue on the old Zumbrota and Red Wing road. Peter Esterly, who was the first postmaster, continued in office until 1864. At this time the office was transferred to the Gleason place, two miles north of the Esterly place, and Mrs. Rebecca Gleason was made the postmistress. She continued in office until 1880, when Frank
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Goodhue, 1857 to 1985
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
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.
Grew from 241 people in 1900 to 1,250 in 2020, 5 times over.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Goodhue’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about Goodhue’s history
What year was Goodhue founded?
The Goodhue post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Goodhue rank for history?
Goodhue is more historic than 39% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Goodhue?
20% of Goodhue’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.5 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1979.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (3), the Library of Congress (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1908
2023