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History · Ogilvie

Ogilvie’s post office opened in 1899, and 38% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Ogilvie Watertower.

1899first post office
1on the National Register
38%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Ogilvie began

When was Ogilvie founded?

1899

The Ogilvie post office opened in 1899, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 388127 years
Founding year: the first Ogilvie post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Ogilvie’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 Ogilvie are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Ogilvie’s homes were built before 1958.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Ogilvie’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Ogilvie’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
The story

How Ogilvie came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Ogilvie.

Read it all →

A post office called Ogilvie has been in operation since 1899. The city was named for Oric Ogilvie Whited, a local landowner.

In July 2023, the Minnesota Department of Transportation misspelled the town name signs to "Oglivie" on newly installed signs along state highways to update the population from the 2020 Census. Residents noted that the spelling was commonly mistaken. The signs were replaced within a week.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Ogilvie, decade by decade

Today6 recent
Building2024BuildingBuilding fronting street2024Building fronting streetBlacksmith Building2024Blacksmith BuildingOgilvieMN-PostOffice2021OgilvieMN-PostOfficeOgilvieMN-CityOffices2021OgilvieMN-CityOfficesMNMap-doton-Ogilvie2005MNMap-doton-Ogilvie
On the National Register

1 historic place in Ogilvie

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1980
Ogilvie Watertower
Ogilvie Watertower
Structures
Ogilvie WatertowerStructure

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

Questions about Ogilvie’s history

What year was Ogilvie founded?

The Ogilvie post office opened in 1899, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Ogilvie?

One place: the Ogilvie Watertower (listed 1980).

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 Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.