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–Not graded
History · Long Prairie Township

16% of Long Prairie Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1966 on and the census since 1880.

0on the National Register
16%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Myotus · CC BY 4.0

What stands out about Long Prairie 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 Long Prairie Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1900 and 1910, then more than doubled.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Long Prairie Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Long Prairie 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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People over time

Long Prairie Township, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,000188019001920194019601980200020201,885 in 1900Low: 1,250

Lost a third of its people between 1900 and 1910, then more than doubled.

14 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Long Prairie Township’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How Long Prairie Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Long Prairie Township.

Read it all →

Long Prairie's history dates back to the time when the land was inhabited first by the Sioux/Dakota and then Anishinaabe/Ojibwe Native American tribes. In an 1846 treaty, the U.S. government gave a vast area in what is now central Minnesota to the Winnebago Indians (Ho-Chunk), known as the Long Prairie Reservation. A site at Long Prairie was chosen as headquarters for the tribe. In 1848, the tribe was resettled from the Neutral Ground in northeast Iowa to the Long Prairie Reservation. The journey North was a difficult and long trip, but once at the Long Prairie Reservation, the tribe built a functioning village with homes, a school, and a church. A subsequent treaty in 1855 again resettled the tribe in southern Minnesota.

ChaptersMarshal George Williams

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Long Prairie Township, decade by decade

Today5 recent
Marshall George H Williams Memorial, Long Prairie, Minnesota2023Marshall George H Williams Memorial, Long Prairie, Mi…Immigrant owned business Long Prairie2023Immigrant owned business Long PrairieMosaics at Harmony Park, Long Prairie, MN, USA2021Mosaics at Harmony Park, Long Prairie, MN, USALong Prairie Minnesota2007Long Prairie MinnesotaMNMap-doton-Long Prairie2005MNMap-doton-Long Prairie
On the map

Long Prairie Township on the map, 1966 to 1986

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

Long Prairie Township on the 1966 USGS mapLong Prairie Township on the 1986 USGS map1966Long Prairie 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 Long Prairie Township.

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 townBruce TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townRound Prairie TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHartford Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLong Prairie4 historic placesA−

Questions about Long Prairie Township’s history

Memory lane

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

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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 Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikidata (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.