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CHistory
History · Rogers

Rogers’ post office opened in 1884, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

More historic than 35% of U.S. towns · #152 of 273 in Minnesota. What drives it

1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 8 buildings. Most of Rogers was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2004. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1909 on, and the census since 1920.

1884first post office
1on the National Register
1%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Rogers’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Rogers began

When was Rogers founded?

1884

The Rogers post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Hassan (1866), Russell (1882) and Fletcher (1900), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 190 in 19202020 census: 13,295142 years

How historic is Rogers?

C

More historic than 35% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Rogers post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Rogers’ History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Rogers is more historic than 35% of U.S. towns, #152 of 273 in Minnesota. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Rogers’ overall grade.
Founding era1884, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19401.3% of homes (±1.0) · typical MN town 8.1% · U.S. 8.4%DNational Register1 listing, 8 historic buildings, 5.8 per 10,000 residents · typical MN town 2.1 · U.S. 2.4B+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 35%
NewerOlder
Minnesota towns of 2,500+ (273)Ahead of 44%

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 Rogers’ 5.8 sits above most of its state (66% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 8 historic buildings outnumber those of 74% 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 (±1.0 points) is firm at this size. 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 Rogers’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Rogers, and 2 old place names are still on the map.On the map since 19094 editions of the USGS map, 1909 to 1993. Watch Rogers change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Rogers’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Rogers’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewTownsite of: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Rogers’s post office has been open since 1884. Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hassan
1866–1904
Russell
1882–1882
Rogers
1884–today
Fletcher
1900–1906
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Berning MillFletcher
Gone or out of use
Fletcher Post Officepost office
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Rogers
FletcherSaint Johns EpiscopalSaint Martin

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

On the map

Rogers on the map, 1909 to 1993

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Rogers. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Rogers on the 1909 USGS mapRogers on the 1958 USGS mapRogers on the 1981 USGS mapRogers on the 1993 USGS map1909Rockford 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 Rogers.

The story

How Rogers came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Rogers.

Read it all →

In the 1880s, Thomas Rogers sold an acre of his land, then part of Hassan Township, to Great Northern Railroad for a dollar. The new depot provided a convenient stop for the rich timber resources of the area and served as the beginning ground of a new community. When St. Martin Catholic Church and school were added, Rogers grew in local importance, consequently causing new businesses to be built and the town to be regarded as more of a local hub than other nearby communities such as Fletcher. In 1914, the city was incorporated.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Rogers, 1866 to 1999

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1866Post officeThe Hassan post office opens
  3. 1882Post officeThe Russell post office opens
  4. 1882Post officeThe Russell post office closes
  5. 1884Post officeThe Rogers post office opens
  6. 20th century
  7. 1904Post officeThe Hassan post office closes
  8. 1909On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 1998Born hereMatt Hellickson is born here
  10. 1999Born herePaetyn Levis is born here
By decade

Rogers, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Townsite ofDate?Townsite of
Today12 recent
Cabelas-rogers-minnesota2022Cabelas-rogers-minnesotaRogers Library2018Rogers LibraryAbandoned Brick Building2018Abandoned Brick BuildingThe Best Buy in2012The Best Buy inRogersHennepin2007RogersHennepinTornado - Rogers, Minnesota - 20062006Tornado - Rogers, Minnesota - 2006Tornado - Rogers, Minnesota - 20062006Tornado - Rogers, Minnesota - 2006Rogers Tornado Damage (9-16-06)2006Rogers Tornado Damage (9-16-06)KSTP News Van2006KSTP News VanCity of Rogers Minnesota Community Room and Fire Station2006City of Rogers Minnesota Community Room and Fire Stat…City of Rogers Community Room & Fire Station2006City of Rogers Community Room & Fire StationMNMap-doton-Rogers2005MNMap-doton-Rogers
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Townsite of
Retake this viewTownsite of

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Rogers’ page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 listing protects 8 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
8
each building in a district counts
first listed
2006
Hagel Family Farm
Hagel Family Farm
Districts

Architectural styles listings

Diversified Farm1
Hagel Family FarmDiversified Farm

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Rogers, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00010,00012,00014,00019201940196019802000202013,295

Grew from 190 people in 1920 to 13,295 in 2020, more than tenfold.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Rogers’ Wikipedia page.

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Rogers

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Paetyn LevisAmerican ice hockey player · b. 1999
M
Matt HellicksonAmerican ice hockey player · b. 1998
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

St. Michael1 historic placeCOtsegoIts storyC−DaytonIts storyC−Hanover1 historic placeCCorcoran1 historic placeC+

Questions about Rogers’ history

What year was Rogers founded?

The Rogers post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Rogers rank for history?

Rogers is more historic than 35% of U.S. towns, #152 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.

What is on the National Register in Rogers?

One place: the Hagel Family Farm (listed 2006).

How old are the homes in Rogers?

1% of Rogers’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.0 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 2004.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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).

From Wikimedia Commons (13), Wikidata (2), 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) 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.