The story
Read it all →How Raymond Township came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Raymond Township.
Raymond Township was organized in 1867, and named for Liberty B. Raymond, a pioneer settler.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Raymond Township
Raymond Township’s post office opened in 1870, and 28% of its homes were built before 1940
Below: old-book passages.
1870first post office
0on the National Register
28%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Raymond Township began
When was Raymond Township founded?
1870
The Raymond Township post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Raymond (1870) and Padua (1900), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 230156 years
Founding year: the first Raymond Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Raymond Township’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 Raymond Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Raymond Township’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Raymond
Padua
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Padua
Gone or out of use
Padua Post Officepost office
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Raymond Township
Lyman PrairieSaint Anthony Padua
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From the old history books
What they wrote about Raymond Township in 1915
Passages that mention Raymond Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Stearns County, Minnesota1915 · page 1389Read the page →
Read the text
Raymond Township. The first school in the township of Raymond was taught by Mrs. Eliza Richardson in the summer of 1867, in an unoccupied dwelling house belonging to P. Smith. This was in what is known as Lyman Prairie, in which District Number 57 had been organized a few months before. How long this old build-
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.
Timeline
Raymond Township, 1870 to 1905
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1870Post officeThe Raymond post office opens
- 1878Post officeThe Raymond post office closes
- 20th century
- 1900Post officeThe Padua post office opens
- 1905Post officeThe Padua post office closes
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 albumStories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Ashley TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townNorth Fork TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGetty TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGrove Lake TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town
Questions about Raymond Township’s history
What year was Raymond Township founded?
The Raymond Township post office opened in 1870, 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, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System 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.