The story
Read it all →How Greenwood came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Greenwood.
Originally part of Excelsior Township, Greenwood was incorporated as an independent city in 1956.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Greenwood
Greenwood’s post office opened in 1857, and 16% of its homes were built before 1940
Below: maps from 1905 on and the census since 1960.
1857first post office
0on the National Register
16%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Greenwood began
When was Greenwood founded?
1857
The Greenwood post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 520 in 19602020 census: 726169 years
Founding year: the first Greenwood post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Greenwood’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Greenwood’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Greenwood’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.On the map
Greenwood on the map, 1905 to 1993
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Greenwood. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1905Minnetonka sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Greenwood.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Greenwood, 1881–1895
Passages that mention Greenwood, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Vol. 21895 · page 1320Read the page →
Read the text
About 1859-60, Lenz post office was established, on the Minneapolis, Rock¬ ford and Greenwood mail route, with Lenard Lenzen as postmaster, the post office being named for him. Its location was on the site of the present village of Hamel, and the name of the post office, during recent years, has
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Vol. 21895 · page 1340Read the page →
Read the text
Railroad was constructed along the northerly shore of Lake Sarah, by the forks of Crow River, passing through the historic townsite of Greenwood. The latter, after having various names (none of which was Greenwood) be¬ stowed upon it by the railroad com¬ pany, is now known as Rockford Sta¬
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Hennepin county and the city of Minneapolis, including the Explorers and pioneers of Minnesota1881 · page 265Read the page →
Read the text
other districts. No. 80 in section 2, No. 79 in section 17, No. 82 in section 30, No. 102 in section 3, a joint district, part of which is in the town of Greenwood. There are also three other joint districts. No. 61, with Medina ; No. 83, with Minnetrista and No. 112 with Greenwood.
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
Greenwood, 1857 to 1905
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1857Post officeThe Greenwood post office opens
- 1875Post officeThe Greenwood post office closes
- 20th century
- 1905
On 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 albumPeople over time
Greenwood, census by census
Between 520 and 729 people in every census since 1960.
7 censuses, 1960–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Greenwood’s Wikipedia page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Greenwood
Nobody well known was born in Greenwood itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices
Greenwood had its own post office from 1857 to 1875.
Greenwood
18501940today
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.
Questions about Greenwood’s history
What year was Greenwood founded?
The Greenwood post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 Wikipedia, 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.