The story
Read it all →How Oslo came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Oslo.
A post office called Oslo has been in operation since 1905. The city was named after Oslo, the capital of Norway.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Oslo
Oslo’s post office opened in 1905, and 27% of its homes were built before 1940
Below: maps from 1979 on and the census since 1910.
1905first post office
0on the National Register
27%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Oslo began
When was Oslo founded?
1905
The Oslo post office opened in 1905, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Granville (1880), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 344 in 19102020 census: 239121 years
Founding year: the first Oslo post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Oslo’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 Oslo’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Oslo’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.People over time
Oslo, census by census
Peaked at 440 in 1950; 239 people lived here in 2020.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Oslo’s Wikipedia page.
Timeline
Oslo, 1880 to 1979
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
Add from your albumOn the map
Oslo on the map, 1979 to 1985
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Oslo. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1979Oslo sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Oslo.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds
Oslo’s post office has been open since 1905. Another post office, Granville, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Granville
Oslo
18801950today
Gone or out of use
Oslo Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Oslo
Saint Joseph
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 Oslo’s history
What year was Oslo founded?
The Oslo post office opened in 1905, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.