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–Not graded
History · Ortonville Township

17% of Ortonville Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1953 on, and the census since 1890.

0on the National Register
17%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Ortonville Township’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Ortonville 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 writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Ortonville Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Ortonville Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewCivil War Veterans, Fourth of July or D…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Ortonville Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Ortonville Township.

Read it all →

Ortonville was platted in 1872 by and named for Cornelius Knute Orton. Ortonville was incorporated as a city in 1881. The Big Stone County Courthouse was built in 1902.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Ortonville Township, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1880s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1880s1 item
Civil War Veterans, Fourth of July or Decoration Day, Ortonville, Minnesota. On review in center of town, ca. 18801880Civil War Veterans, Fourth of July or Decoration Day,…
1890s–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 album
Today3 recent
Ortonville Commercial HD2013Ortonville Commercial HDBig Stone Lake from Ortonville2013Big Stone Lake from OrtonvilleMNMap-doton-Ortonville2005MNMap-doton-Ortonville
On the map

Ortonville Township on the map, 1953 to 1985

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

Ortonville Township on the 1953 USGS mapOrtonville Township on the 1971 USGS mapOrtonville Township on the 1985 USGS map1953Ortonville sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Ortonville Township.

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.

Civil War Veterans, Fourth of July or Decoration Day, Ortonville, Minnesota. On review in center of town, ca. 1880
Retake this viewCivil War Veterans, Fourth of July or Decoration Day, Ortonville, Minnesota. On review in center of town, ca. 1880, 1880

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Ortonville Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Ortonville Township, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 2,674

Between 768 and 2,674 people in every census since 1890.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Ortonville Township’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Places now gone

Gone or out of use
School Number 22school

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.

Yellow Bank TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townOrtonville3 historic placesA−Odessa TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBig Stone TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Ortonville Township’s history

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 Wikimedia Commons (4), Wikidata (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.