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History · Keystone Township

10% of Keystone Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1963 on.

0on the National Register
10%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Keystone 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 Keystone Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Keystone Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Keystone Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Keystone Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone

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

Bockersville
1892–1896
Keywest
1896–1910
Sherack
1901–1905
18901960today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Key WestSherack
Gone or out of use
Key WestlocaleKeywest Post Officepost officeSheracklocaleSherack Post Officepost office

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

The story so far

Keystone Township, in brief

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

Keystone Township is a township in Polk County, Minnesota, United States. It is part of the Grand Forks-ND-MN Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 100 at the 2000 census. Keystone Township was organized in 1881, and took its name from the Keystone state: Pennsylvania.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 91 to 70 (-23%).

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

Timeline

Keystone Township, 1892 to 1963

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1892Post officeThe Bockersville post office opens
  3. 1896Post officeThe Bockersville post office closes
  4. 1896Post officeThe Keywest post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1901Post officeThe Sherack post office opens
  7. 1905Post officeThe Sherack post office closes
  8. 1910Post officeThe Keywest post office closes
  9. 1963On 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

Keystone Township on the map, 1963 to 1984

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

Keystone Township on the 1963 USGS mapKeystone Township on the 1984 USGS map1963Key West sheet · 1:24,000

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Keystone Township

Nobody well known was born in Keystone Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
James RosenquistAmerican artist · b. 1933
A
Alan RitchsonAmerican actor · b. 1982
Lynn AndersonAmerican country music singer · b. 1947
Doug McDermottAmerican basketball player · b. 1992
M
Mancur OlsonAmerican economist · b. 1932
N
Nicole LinkletterAmerican model · b. 1985
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Nesbit TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSullivan TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townEuclid TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Keystone 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 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.