Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 82% of U.S. towns · #16 of 273 in Minnesota. What drives it
7 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 22 buildings. Below: 13 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1880.
The Pipestone post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1876.
More historic than 82% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pipestone is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns, #16 of 273 in Minnesota. Its National Register listings hold 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 Pipestone’s 65.4 sits above most of its state (95% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 27 historic buildings outnumber those of 81% 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.
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.
1892Sheet 1 of 3Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Pipestone’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Pipestone.
Pipestone was platted in October, 1876, incorporated as a village on February 10, 1881, and as a city on July 23, 1901. Pipestone took its name from Pipestone County.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Pipestone, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Pipestone county's second newspaper was not destined to live long. In the summer of 1880 Gardner E. Hart, of the Pipestone County Star, put a plant in the little village of Edgerton, then just founded, and on July 24, 1880, issued the first nundier of the Edgerton News, a six column folio. Tn September of the same
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
It was during the early years of settlement in Pipestone county that Edgerton made its bid for recognition. When the Southern Minnesota railroad pushed through the county late in 1879 it found perched on the prairie in Osborne township a little hamlet awaiting its coming.
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.
BuiltPipestone Public Library is built
In the archiveGo and Get It (1920) - Gem Theater
Born herePhil Bruns is born here
Born hereVern Ehlers is born here
Born hereBill Hager is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Date?Pipestone Historic District
Date?Pipestone Historic District, Bank-Calumet Hotel
Date?Pipestone Historic District, Moore Building, Main Str…
Date?Pipestone Mission 66 Entry Road, 36 Reservation Avenue
Date?Pipestone Historic District, A. F. & A. M. Building
Date?Pipestone Historic District, Old Masonic Temple, Main…
Date?Pipestone Historic District, Old City Hall, Hiawatha …
Date?Exhibit Quarry, 36 Reservation Avenue
Date?Pipestone National Monument, Rock Quarry, Park Entran…
Date?Residence Access Road, 36 Reservation Avenue
Date?Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Footbridges, 36 Res…
Date?Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Dam, 36 Reservation…
2024US 75 and MN 30 in
2019Pipestone NM Sign
2017Winnewissa Falls
2017US Post Office - Pipestone, Minnesota 56164
2016Panorama at Pipestone National Monument
2013Wind Farms, MN 7-27-13k
2013Can't Hide Behind that Tree, MN 7-27-13c
2013Blowing Away the Moon, MN 7-27-13j
2012Pipestone Water Tower
2011Pipestone Public Library
2003WelcometoPipestoneNo then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Pipestone’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 222 and 5,328 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Pipestone’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Pipestone’s post office has been open since 1874.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Pipestone post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1876.
Pipestone is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns, #16 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.
7 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Calumet Hotel (listed 1976, the first), 1 historic district, the Pipestone Commercial Historic District, with 22 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 27 historic buildings in all.
30% of Pipestone’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.3 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1955.
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 (12), the Library of Congress (12), Wikidata (4), the National Register of Historic Places (7), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
