Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 40% of U.S. towns · #134 of 273 in Minnesota. What drives it
Most of Montrose was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2002. Its Register listing is the Hawkins, Dr. E. P., Clinic, Hospital and House. Its Register listing is the Hawkins, Dr. E. P., Clinic, Hospital and House. Below: maps from 1958 on and the census since 1880.
The Montrose post office opened in 1862, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 40% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Montrose is more historic than 40% of U.S. towns, #134 of 273 in Minnesota. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
Minnesota towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Minnesota town has 2.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Montrose’s 7.7 sits above most of its state (72% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Montrose’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Montrose.
Montrose was platted in 1878, and named after Montrose, in Scotland. Montrose was incorporated in 1881. The Dr. E.P. Hawkins Clinic, Hospital, and House, an early-20th-century medical complex, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Montrose, cut from the printed page as they were published.
land townships. It was partly opened by settlers, claim seekers and townsite owners in 1856, and was surveyed and laid out as a county road in 1857, In 1857 a road was opened from the present village of Montrose to what was then the townsite of Marysville, in section 22, on the Crow river. In 1858 a road was opened from Waverly to the north part of the town, crossing Crow river where the present Marysville bridge now is. In 1879, the citizens of Montrose, among whom were J. F. Miller, T. S.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
teacher. A schoolhouse, 30 by 50 feet, with 20 feet posts, was built at Waverly in 1881. A schoolhouse, 26 by 40, two stories high, was built in the village of Montrose in 1880. The first mill was erected in 1857 on the townsite of old Waverly by the proprietors, A. C. Morris and Deaeou, William and Asa Colwell. It did not amount to much and the whole mill was in a state of ruin when purchased by A. D. Kingsley in 1862. Mr. Kingsley built a sawmill in 1862 and a gristmill in
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
2025Public Works Building
2025Post Office
2025Fire Station
2025Community Center
2025City Offices
20242024 Montrose, MS EF0 prelim path 01
2017Volkswagen Rabbit Pickup @ Minnesota German Autowerks…
2017Volkswagen Rabbit Pickup @ Minnesota German Autowerks…
2017Volkswagen Golf I GLI @ Minnesota German Autowerks in
2017Volkswagen Golf I GLI @ Minnesota German Autowerks in
2017Multiple Volkswagens @ Minnesota German Autowerks in
2017Minnesota German Autowerks;
2009Montrose SchoolEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Montrose. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Montrose.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Grew from 141 people in 1880 to 3,775 in 2020, more than tenfold.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Montrose’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Montrose itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Montrose’s post office has been open since 1862.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Montrose post office opened in 1862, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Montrose is more historic than 40% of U.S. towns, #134 of 273 in Minnesota. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
One place: the Hawkins, Dr. E. P., Clinic, Hospital and House (listed 1979).
4% of Montrose’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.1 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 2002.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (13), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
