Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1857.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Jackson’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Jackson is more historic than 81% of U.S. towns, #20 of 273 in Minnesota. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Jackson’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 Jackson’s 94.3 sits above most of its state (97% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 31 historic buildings outnumber those of 82% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.7 points). Two sources give 1856.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Jackson’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Every building
Jackson, building by building, 1894–1917
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
For centuries, many indigenous peoples called this area home, including the Cheyenne, Ioway, and Dakota tribes. In 1851, the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux opened the region to white settlement in exchange for government payments.
Jackson was originally called Springfield, and was laid out under that name in 1856. The first settlers in what is now Jackson County—William, George, and Charles Wood—established a trading post near the Des Moines River around the same time. A post office called Jackson has been in operation since 1858.
Passages that mention Jackson, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Lineage and family records of Alfred Wyman Hoar and his wife Josephine Jackson1898Read the page →
Read the text
The name of Jackson is derived from Jack and Son; a worker in metals or engaged in trade. When first used as a surname is not known. The first that we have traced in my wife's line is Christopher, who lived in London, England, and owned a fine estate in the east part of the great metropolis. He had two wives, five sons, and ten daughters. His son, Deacon John Jackson, settled in Cambridge (now
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
Jackson, 1856 to 1970
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In 1856, according to Wikidata. Jackson’s post office opened in 1857, and the census of 1880 counted 501 people here.
How does Jackson rank for history?
Jackson is more historic than 81% of U.S. towns, #20 of 273 in Minnesota. 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.
What is on the National Register in Jackson?
Two places: the Jackson County Courthouse (listed 1977) and the Jackson Commercial Historic District (1987).
How old are the homes in Jackson?
27% of Jackson’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.7 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1961.
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 (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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