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History · Maine Township

Maine Township’s post office opened in 1875, and 12% of its homes were built before 1940

2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 3 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1907 on.

1875first post office
2on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Maine Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Maine Township began

When was Maine Township founded?

1875

The Maine Township post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Maine (1875), Monitor Falls (1884) and Phelps (1891), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 665151 years
Founding year: the first Maine Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Maine 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 writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages4 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Maine Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Maine Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewGreetings from Maine, Minnesota - DPLA …: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

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

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

Maine
1875–1909
Monitor Falls
1884–1885
Phelps
1891–1909
Berkey
1903–1905
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
MainePhelps
Gone or out of use
Berkey Post Officepost officeMaine Post Officepost officeMonitor Falls Post Officepost officePhelps Post Officepost officeSchool Number 120schoolSchool Number 22schoolSchool Number 24schoolSchool Number 251school
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Maine Township
Saint James Catholic ChurchSilent ValeTingvold

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

The story

How Maine Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Maine Township.

Read it all →

Maine Township was organized in 1871, and named after the state of Maine, the native home of an early settler.

Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas was born in Maine Township in 1898.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Maine Township, 1875 to 1909

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1875Post officeThe Maine post office opens
  3. 1884Post officeThe Monitor Falls post office opens
  4. 1885Post officeThe Monitor Falls post office closes
  5. 1891Post officeThe Phelps post office opens
  6. 20th century
  7. 1907In the archiveGreetings from Maine, Minnesota - DPLA - 5094db7efd6ddfa5b57aa4782d0935ee
  8. 1909Post officeThe Maine post office closes
  9. 1909Post officeThe Phelps post office closes
By decade

Maine Township, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s1 item
Greetings from Maine, Minnesota - DPLA - 5094db7efd6ddfa5b57aa4782d0935eec. 1907Greetings from Maine, Minnesota - DPLA - 5094db7efd6d…
1910s–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.

Greetings from Maine, Minnesota - DPLA - 5094db7efd6ddfa5b57aa4782d0935ee
Retake this viewGreetings from Maine, Minnesota - DPLA - 5094db7efd6ddfa5b57aa4782d0935ee, c. 1907

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

2 historic places in Maine Township

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

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
6
each building in a district counts
first listed
1975
Phelps Mill
Phelps MillPhelps Mill Historic District
BuildingsDistricts
Phelps MillBuilding
All 2 listings
Phelps Mill Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1984

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Friberg TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAmor TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSverdrup Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townStar Lake TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Maine Township’s history

What year was Maine Township founded?

The Maine Township post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Maine Township?

Two places: the Phelps Mill (listed 1975) and the Phelps Mill Historic District (1984).

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 (1), 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.