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History · Leslie Township

Leslie Township’s post office opened in 1894

Most of Leslie Township was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982.

1894first post office
0on the National Register
8%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Leslie Township began

When was Leslie Township founded?

1894

The Leslie Township post office opened in 1894, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Clotho (1879) and Leslie (1894), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 668132 years
Founding year: the first Leslie Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Leslie 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 Leslie Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Leslie Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Leslie Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Leslie 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, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Clotho
1879–1908
Leslie
1894–1903
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Clotho
Gone or out of use
Clotho Post Officepost office
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Leslie Township
Pleasant MoundPleasant Valley

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

The story so far

Leslie Township, in brief

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

Leslie Township is a township in the southwestern corner Todd County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 668 at the 2020 census. Leslie Township was organized in 1876, and named for John B. Leslie, an early settler. A farmer's post office was located in Section 33 from1894 to 1903. Part of the village of Clotho is in the northern part of the township as well as section 39 of Burleene township. Clotho was named after the Greek goddess of the same name. There were three post offices in Clotho between 1879 and 1908. Oak Hill was a railroad village in Leslie township and it had a Great Northern Railway station and a post office in sections 16 and 17, according to page 592 of Upham's 3…

Its first post office opened in 1894. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 642 to 668 (+4%).

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

Timeline

Leslie Township, 1879 to 1908

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1879Post officeThe Clotho post office opens
  3. 1894Post officeThe Leslie post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1903Post officeThe Leslie post office closes
  6. 1908Post officeThe Clotho post office closes
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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Famous people

Famous people close to Leslie Township

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

See all →
J
Jodi HuisentruitAmerican journalist who disappeared on June 27,… · b. 1968
L
LaVyrle SpencerAmerican writer · b. 1943
J
Jacob WetterlingAmerican kidnap victim · b. 1978
C
Charles P. DavisUnited States Army Medal of Honor recipient · b. 1872
G
Gail T. KulickAmerican politician · b. 1959
Lew DrillAmerican baseball player · b. 1877
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Reynolds TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGordon TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBelle River TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBurleene TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Leslie Township’s history

What year was Leslie Township founded?

The Leslie Township post office opened in 1894, 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 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.