Founding year: the first Red Lake Falls post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Red Lake Falls’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Red Lake Falls is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Red Lake Falls’ overall grade.
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 Red Lake Falls’ 7.4 sits above most of its state (71% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.5 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Red Lake Falls’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Peaked at 1,885 in 1900; 1,339 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Red Lake Falls’ Wikipedia page.
Every building
Red Lake Falls, building by building, 1894–1918
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.
Red Lake Falls was the site of a North West Company fur post as early as 1796 or 1797, making it one of the oldest sites of European occupation in the State of Minnesota. A French Canadian fur trader, Jean Baptiste Cadot, partner of the noted British-Canadian fur trader, Alexander Henry the elder, established the post as part of a strategy to ward off Hudson's Bay Company intrusion into the Red River Valley. The famous Canadian explorer David Thompson took shelter from a storm in Cadotte's cabin here in March 1798. The post was abandoned early in the 1800s, as British fur traders withdrew from United States territory.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Red Lake Falls. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1952Red Lake Falls 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 Red Lake Falls.
On the National Register
1 historic place in Red Lake Falls
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.
Places that used to be
Old corners and places now gone
Red Lake Falls’s post office has been open since 1878.
Hamlets and corners on the map
Oaks Mobile Home Park
Gone or out of use
Red Lake Falls Railroad Stationlocale
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Red Lake Falls’ history
What year was Red Lake Falls founded?
The Red Lake Falls post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Red Lake Falls rank for history?
Red Lake Falls is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns. 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.
What is on the National Register in Red Lake Falls?
One place: the Red Lake County Courthouse (listed 1983).
How old are the homes in Red Lake Falls?
20% of Red Lake Falls’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.5 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1968.
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 and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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