Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 66% of U.S. towns · #57 of 273 in Minnesota. What drives it
Its Register listing is the O. A. E. Blyberg House. Below: maps from 1894 on and the census since 1890.
The Pelican Rapids post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 66% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pelican Rapids is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns, #57 of 273 in Minnesota. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
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 Pelican Rapids’ 7.7 sits above most of its state (72% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 2 historic buildings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Pelican Rapids’s history is told.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1894Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Pelican Rapids.
Pelican Rapids was platted in 1872, and named for the rapids on the Pelican River. A post office has been in operation at Pelican Rapids since 1872. Pelican Rapids was incorporated in 1882.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Pelican Rapids, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Upon completing hieducation. Charles Frazee came to Pelican Rapids as bookkeeper in his father's mill. Tie continued at this employment tor three years and at the end of that time he went to Twin Valley, Minnesota, where he conducted a general store and a drug store until [890, when he returned to Pelican Rapids, lie remained there, working in his father's mill until [895, when he was appointed postmaster at Pelican Rapids, a position he still retains.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pelican Rapids. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Pelican Rapids.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Grew from 624 people in 1890 to 2,577 in 2020, 4 times over.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Pelican Rapids’ Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Pelican Rapids’s post office has been open since 1872.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Pelican Rapids post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Pelican Rapids is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns, #57 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.
One place: the O. A. E. Blyberg House (listed 1984).
23% of Pelican Rapids’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.5 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1975.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
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