The story
Read it all →How Newport came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Newport.
Newport was platted in 1857. A post office has been in operation at Newport since 1857.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
C−History
History · Newport
Newport’s post office opened in 1857
More historic than 25% of U.S. towns · #192 of 273 in Minnesota. What drives it
Most of Newport was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1976. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1953 on, and the census since 1900.
1857first post office
0on the National Register
8%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Quick answers
How Newport began
When was Newport founded?
1857
The Newport post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Red Rock (1849), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 307 in 19002020 census: 3,797169 years
How historic is Newport?
C−
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 25% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Newport post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Newport’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Newport is more historic than 25% of U.S. towns, #192 of 273 in Minnesota. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Newport’s overall grade.
Founding era1857, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19407.7% of homes (±4.5) · typical MN town 8.1% · U.S. 8.4%C+National RegisterNo listings counted · typical MN town 2.1 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 25%
NewerOlder
Minnesota towns of 2,500+ (273)Ahead of 30%
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 Newport’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (23% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to C. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.5 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Newport’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Newport’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Newport’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.From the old history books
What they wrote about Newport in 1881
Passages that mention Newport, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Washington County and the St. Croix Valley1881 · page 381Read the page →
Read the text
26, on land owned by Charles Caviller, who conducted a shop, making saddles for Indians. In 1847, William Johnson took a claim where the village of Newport now stands, and two years later, E. B. Scofield settled on section 13. ORGANIZATION.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Washington County and the St. Croix Valley1881 · page 383Read the page →
Read the text
necessary for him to close his business in that line. He held the office of chairman of the board of town supervisors one year in Woodbury, before the fraction was set off to Newport, also at Newport one year. He was also elected to the second territorial legislature of Minnesota. His marriage with Miss Mary Holton occurred in 1843. Franklin and Willis are their children.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Washington County and the St. Croix Valley Including the Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota1881 · page 381Read the page →
Read the text
26, on land owned by Charles Cavilier, who con¬ ducted a shop, making saddles for Indians. In 1847, William Johnson took a claim where the village of Newport now stands, and two years later, E. B. Scofield settled on section 13. ORGANIZATION.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Washington County and the St. Croix Valley Including the Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota1881 · page 385Read the page →
Read the text
and for nineteen years past, he has been a resi¬ dent of Washington county. He settled first at Cottage Grove, and afterward made his home in the village of Newport. During the fall of 1874, he moved to his present fine estate of two hun¬ dred and seventythree acres. Mr. Maxon has been town treasurer for eight years past, has also been one of the board of supervisors, and is now
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.
Timeline
Newport, 1849 to 1977
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1849Post officeThe Red Rock post office opens
- 1857Post officeThe Red Rock post office closes
- 1857Post officeThe Newport post office opens
- 20th century
- 1953
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 1963
In the archiveMN 4 I494 ROUTE61 FHWA 63 1466 - 1977
Born hereKatie Sieben is born here
By decade
Newport, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1960s1 item
1970s–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 albumToday2 recent
2011
2005On the map
Newport on the map in 1953
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Newport.
1953Saint Paul sheet · 1:250,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Newport.
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.
Retake this viewMN 4 I494 ROUTE61 FHWA 63 1466, 1963
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Newport’s page.
Retake this view · +15People over time
Newport, census by census
Grew from 307 people in 1900 to 3,797 in 2020, more than tenfold.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Newport’s Wikipedia page.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices and burying grounds
Newport’s post office has been open since 1857. Another post office, Red Rock, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Red Rock
Newport
18401930today
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Newport
NewportRed Rock
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.
Questions about Newport’s history
What year was Newport founded?
The Newport post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Newport rank for history?
Newport is more historic than 25% of U.S. towns, #192 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.
How old are the homes in Newport?
8% of Newport’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.5 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1976.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.