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History · Kasota

Kasota’s post office opened in 1854, and 40% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the Kasota Township Hall and the Kasota Village Hall. Below: 6 old photos and papers from 1898 on.

1854first post office
2on the National Register
40%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Kasota’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Kasota began

When was Kasota founded?

1854

The Kasota post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 714172 years
Founding year: the first Kasota post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Kasota’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Old housesHalf of Kasota’s homes were built before 1956.
★ What stands out · The story

How Kasota came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Kasota.

Read it all →

Kasota was platted in 1855. "Kasota" is a name derived from the Dakota language word for "cleared off".

On July 1, 1892, the Sontag Brothers, John Sontag and George Contant, and their partner in crime, Chris Evans, tried to rob a train between St. Peter and Kasota along the Minnesota River. The bandits acquired nothing of value, but their activities came under the review of Pinkerton detectives, and both were apprehended in June 1893.

ChaptersThe stone industryNamesakes

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Kasota, 1854 to 1965

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1854Post officeThe Kasota post office opens
  3. 1898In the archiveJohn A. Johnson and friends at Lake Emily, Kasota Township, Minnesota - DPLA - ecc89445a1…
  4. 20th century
  5. 1900In the archiveGovernor and Mrs. John A. Johnson at Lake Emily in Kasota Township, Minnesota - DPLA - 54…
  6. 1965In the archiveFlood damage to a building during the 1965 flooding of the Minnesota River, Kasota Townsh…
By decade

Kasota, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s–1900s4 items
John A. Johnson and friends at Lake Emily, Kasota Township, Minnesota - DPLA - ecc89445a1bc79784ce155755df706cdc. 1898John A. Johnson and friends at Lake Emily, Kasota Tow…Governor and Mrs. John A. Johnson at Lake Emily in Kasota Township, Minnesota - DPLA - 540b4ecaa33be702e4cb8e1359c526fac. 1900Governor and Mrs. John A. Johnson at Lake Emily in Ka…Governor and Mrs. John A. Johnson at Lake Emily in Kasota Township, Minnesota - DPLA - 623a77481d74e6372998e6f3f774469bc. 1900Governor and Mrs. John A. Johnson at Lake Emily in Ka…Governor and Mrs. John A. Johnson at Lake Emily, Kasota Township, Minnesota - DPLA - b71b6237203be08b5b15fef7be54d68dc. 1900Governor and Mrs. John A. Johnson at Lake Emily, Kaso…
1910s–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 album
1960s2 items
Flood damage to a building during the 1965 flooding of the Minnesota River, Kasota Township, Minnesota - DPLA - f7c3bc8…1965Flood damage to a building during the 1965 flooding o…Highway 99 during the 1965 flood of the Minnesota River, Kasota Township, Minnesota - DPLA - 19cfed13574a2d7243048814f3…1965Highway 99 during the 1965 flood of the Minnesota Riv…
1970s–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 album
Then & 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.

John A. Johnson and friends at Lake Emily, Kasota Township, Minnesota - DPLA - ecc89445a1bc79784ce155755df706cd
Retake this viewJohn A. Johnson and friends at Lake Emily, Kasota Township, Minnesota - DPLA - ecc89445a1bc79784ce155755df706cd, c. 1898

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Kasota’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

2 historic places in Kasota

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1981
Kasota Township Hall
Kasota Township HallKasota Village Hall
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Queen Anne2
Kasota Township HallQueen Anne
Kasota Village HallQueen Anne

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Help out

Finish Kasota’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.
Retake an old viewJohn A. Johnson and friends at Lake Emi…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Kasota Township2 historic placesB−St. Peter19 historic placesB+Oshawa TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Kasota’s history

What year was Kasota founded?

The Kasota post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Kasota?

Two places: the Kasota Township Hall (listed 1981) and the Kasota Village Hall (1981).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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 (2), 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.