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History · Hawley Township

Half of Hawley Township’s homes were built after 1979

Most of Hawley Township was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. Below: maps from 1919 on and the census since 1880.

0on the National Register
4%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Moncrief at en.wikipedia · Public domain

What stands out about Hawley 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 Hawley Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19193 editions of the USGS map, 1919 to 1985. Watch Hawley Township change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Hawley Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Hawley 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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On the map

Hawley Township on the map, 1919 to 1985

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

Hawley Township on the 1919 USGS mapHawley Township on the 1966 USGS mapHawley Township on the 1985 USGS map1919Hawley 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 Hawley Township.

The story

How Hawley Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Hawley Township.

Read it all →

The town went through six quick name changes after 1871 until, in 1872, it was finally named after Thomas Hawley Canfield, an officer in the Northern Pacific Railway, which laid out the town. General George Custer visited the town in 1876. The incident was recalled in WCCO Television's short film Incident at Hawley, which aired during America's bicentennial year of 1976.

Hawley was at one time settled by a colony of immigrants from Yeovil, Somerset; among these was Elisabeth Chant, later a painter in Minneapolis.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Hawley Township, 1873 to 1930

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1873Post officeThe Muskoda post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1919On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1930Post officeThe Muskoda post office closes
By decade

Hawley Township, decade by decade

Today6 recent
Hawley Business Corridor2020Hawley Business CorridorFall in Hawley, Minnesota2020Fall in Hawley, MinnesotaFall Photo in Hawley, Minnesota2020Fall Photo in Hawley, MinnesotaHawley High School2013Hawley High SchoolHawleygrainelevator2007HawleygrainelevatorBuffalo River MN2005Buffalo River MN
People over time

Hawley Township, census by census

05001,0001,5002,000188019001920194019601980200020202,219

Grew from 77 people in 1880 to 2,219 in 2020, more than tenfold.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Another post office, Muskoda, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Muskoda
Gone or out of use
MuskodalocaleMuskoda Post Officepost office
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Hawley Township
HawleySilver Lake Pioneer

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.

HawleyIts storyC+Eglon TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townRiverton Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCromwell TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSkree TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Hawley Township’s history

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 Wikimedia Commons (6), 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.