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History · Moran Township

Moran Township’s post office opened in 1890, and 16% of its homes were built before 1940

1890first post office
0on the National Register
16%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Moran Township began

When was Moran Township founded?

1890

The Moran Township post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Moran (1890), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 489136 years
Founding year: the first Moran Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Moran 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 Moran Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Moran Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Moran 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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The story so far

Moran Township, in brief

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

Moran Township is a township in Todd County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 515 at the 2000 census. By the 2020 census the population had declined to 489.[1] Moran Township was organized in 1877, and named after Moran Creek which joins the Long Prairie River in the township. Upham says that Moran Creek was named for an early lumberman. He also writes that there was a post office called Miram Brook there from 1874 - ’76. At a later date the post office was transferred to William J. Graves hotel in the village of Moran. The post office closed in 1914.

Its first post office opened in 1890. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 508 to 489 (-4%).

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

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 Moran Township

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

See all →
Lesley J. McNairRecipient of the Purple Heart medal · b. 1883
E
Elizabeth ColsonUS social anthropologist · b. 1917
L
LaVyrle SpencerAmerican writer · b. 1943
G
Gail T. KulickAmerican politician · b. 1959
Jack D. ShanstromUnited States Senior District Judge · b. 1932
L
Lester W. MilbrathAmerican sociologist · b. 1925
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and burying grounds

Another post office, Moran, opened and closed inside today’s town.

2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Moran Township
Moran RiversideSaint Isadore

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Fawn Lake TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGermania Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWard TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townStaples TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townVillard TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Moran Township’s history

What year was Moran Township founded?

The Moran Township post office opened in 1890, 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.