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History · Kelso Township

Kelso Township’s post office opened in 1857, and 55% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1953 on.

1857first post office
0on the National Register
55%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Kelso Township began

When was Kelso Township founded?

1857

The Kelso Township post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Kelso (1857) and Rush River (1868), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 269169 years
Founding year: the first Kelso Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Kelso 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 Kelso Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Kelso Township’s homes were built before 1938.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Kelso Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Kelso Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Kelso 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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The story so far

Kelso Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Kelso Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Kelso Township is a township in Sibley County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 357 at the 2000 census. Kelso Township was organized in 1858, and shares its name with Kelso, in Scotland.

Its first post office opened in 1857. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 292 to 269 (-8%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Places that used to be

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

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Kelso
1857–1891
Rush River
1868–1903
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Rush River
Gone or out of use
Rush River Post Officepost office
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Kelso Township
Saint JohnsTraver

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Timeline

Kelso Township, 1857 to 1953

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1857Post officeThe Kelso post office opens
  3. 1868Post officeThe Rush River post office opens
  4. 1891Post officeThe Kelso post office closes
  5. 20th century
  6. 1903Post officeThe Rush River post office closes
  7. 1953On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Kelso Township on the map, 1953 to 1967

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

Kelso Township on the 1953 USGS mapKelso Township on the 1967 USGS map1953New Ulm sheet · 1:250,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Kelso Township.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Henderson TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSibley TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townArlington TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLake Prairie Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Kelso Township’s history

What year was Kelso Township founded?

The Kelso Township post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.