The story
Read it all →How Hamburg came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Hamburg.
A post office has been in operation in Hamburg since 1881. The city was named after Hamburg, in Germany.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Hamburg
Hamburg’s post office opened in 1881, and 27% of its homes were built before 1940
Its Register listing is the Hebeisen, Jacob, Hardware Store. Below: 5 old photos and papers from 1928 on.
1881first post office
1on the National Register
27%homes built before 1940
5old photos & papers
Quick answers
How Hamburg began
When was Hamburg founded?
1881
The Hamburg post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name.
2020 census: 566145 years
Founding year: the first Hamburg post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
Timeline
Hamburg, 1881 to 1965
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1881Post officeThe Hamburg post office opens
- 20th century
- 1928
In the archiveMinnesota, Wegweiser nach - 1965
In the archiveTornado damage near Hamburg, Minnesota, 6 May 1965
By decade
Hamburg, decade by decade
2 decades in the archive, from the 1920s to the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1920s4 items
1928
1928
19281930s–1950snothing 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 album1970s–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 albumToday1 recent
2012Then & 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.
Retake this viewMinnesota, Wegweiser nach, 1928
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Hamburg’s page.
Retake this view · +15On the National Register
1 historic place in Hamburg
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1980
Hebeisen, Jacob, Hardware Store
Buildings
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Help out
Finish Hamburg’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Questions about Hamburg’s history
What year was Hamburg founded?
The Hamburg post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What is on the National Register in Hamburg?
One place: the Hebeisen, Jacob, Hardware Store (listed 1980).
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 Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.