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History · Minnesota Falls Township

Minnesota Falls Township’s post office opened in 1872, and 20% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1965 on.

1872first post office
0on the National Register
20%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Minnesota Falls Township began

When was Minnesota Falls Township founded?

1872

The Minnesota Falls Township post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Minnesota Falls (1872), Fraseville (1900) and Lorne (1905), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 361154 years
Founding year: the first Minnesota Falls Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Minnesota Falls 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 Minnesota Falls Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Minnesota Falls Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Minnesota Falls Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Minnesota Falls 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

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

Minnesota Falls
1872–1883
Fraseville
1900–1905
Lorne
1905–1935
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Lorne
Gone or out of use
Lorne Post Officepost officeLorne Post Officepost office
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Minnesota Falls Township
HillcrestSaint AndrewsUnion

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

The story so far

Minnesota Falls Township, in brief

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

Its first post office opened in 1872. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 429 to 361 (-16%).

Timeline

Minnesota Falls Township, 1872 to 1965

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1872Post officeThe Minnesota Falls post office opens
  3. 1883Post officeThe Minnesota Falls post office closes
  4. 20th century
  5. 1900Post officeThe Fraseville post office opens
  6. 1905Post officeThe Fraseville post office closes
  7. 1905Post officeThe Lorne post office opens
  8. 1935Post officeThe Lorne post office closes
  9. 1965On 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.
Add from your album
On the map

Minnesota Falls Township on the map, 1965 to 1986

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

Minnesota Falls Township on the 1965 USGS mapMinnesota Falls Township on the 1986 USGS map1965Granite Falls 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 Minnesota Falls Township.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Granite Falls Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGranite Falls2 historic placesBWood Lake TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHazel Run TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSioux Agency TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHawk Creek TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townStony Run TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Minnesota Falls Township’s history

What year was Minnesota Falls Township founded?

The Minnesota Falls Township post office opened in 1872, 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 →
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 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.