The community was named after Sam Houston, first president of the Republic of Texas.
In 1852, William McSpadden platted the original site of the Village of Houston. McSpadden had served under Sam Houston in the Mexican–American War. Pioneers followed him into the area and by 1854 there were stores and a school among the settlement's approximately 40 buildings.
The 2007 Midwest flooding caused the Root River to rise to 19 feet (5.8 m), about a foot short of the height of the dike protecting the town, necessitating evacuation of the community.
Passages that mention Houston, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Houston County, Minnesota1919 · page 247Read the page →
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Charles Anderson, who is now living retired in Houston, was an early settler in Houston township, and was for a number of years actively engaged in the work of agricultural improvement as a general farmer. He was bom in Sweden in 1844 and was a young and single man when he came from his native land to Houston county, Minn., taking up his residence with a brother who lived on Swede Bottom in Houston township. After residing with that brother for a number of years, during which time he was engaged in agricultural work, he became employed in the elevator
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History of Houston County, Including Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota1882 · page 407Read the page →
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* Houston Roller Fouring Mill. — In 1875, Wm. H. Gorsland commenced the erection of a flouring mill on the Root River, on the northern edge of the village of Houston, and in May, 1877, it was put in operation at a cost of about $40,000, and run through the summer as a custom mill. At that time it had six run of stones. In the fall of that year he began the manufacture of merchant flour,
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History of Houston County, Minnesota1919 · page 134Read the page →
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The seventeen townships in Houston County date back to the early election precincts. When, on July 9, 1853, Fillmore County, then including Houston County, was divided into precincts, one was named the Root River Precinct, and included all of what is now Houston County north of a line drawn due west from the mouth of the Root River. The land in Houston County south of that line was not placed in an election precinct until Aug. 27, 1853. When Brownsville Precinct was created it included all the part of the county south of a line drawn due west from the mouth of
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History of Houston County, Including Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota1882 · page 348Read the page →
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This is the shire town of Houston comity, and it has a village of the same name, originally laid out on section thirteen, which is of course on the eastern boundary of the township. As it would be impossible to divorce them, the town and village will be treated together in the following sketch, with perhaps a slight variation.
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Houston, 1856 to 1957
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
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