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History · Roosevelt Township

Half of Roosevelt Township’s homes were built after 1980

Most of Roosevelt Township was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1980. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1968 on, and the census since 1910.

0on the National Register
9%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Roosevelt Township’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Roosevelt Township’s 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.Boom and bustPeaked at 304 in 1940; 153 people lived here in 2020.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Roosevelt Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Roosevelt Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old view1935NorrisCampMN: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Roosevelt Township, census by census

0100200300192019401960198020002020Peak: 304

Peaked at 304 in 1940; 153 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

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.

Sewell
1903–1905
Schwitz
1912–1913
19001960today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Pine Center
Gone or out of use
Schwitz Post Officepost officeSewell Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Roosevelt Township
Holy Family

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

The story

How Roosevelt Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Roosevelt Township.

Read it all →

A post office called Roosevelt has been in operation since 1901. Roosevelt also features a full service grocery store called Market on Main that has been in operation for over 100 years. The city was named for Theodore Roosevelt the 26th president of the United States.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Roosevelt Township, 1903 to 1968

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1903Post officeThe Sewell post office opens
  3. 1905Post officeThe Sewell post office closes
  4. 1912Post officeThe Schwitz post office opens
  5. 1913Post officeThe Schwitz post office closes
  6. 1935In the archive1935NorrisCampMN
  7. 1940CensusPopulation peaks at 304
  8. 1968On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Roosevelt Township, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s1 item
1935NorrisCampMN19351935NorrisCampMN
1940s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
Today1 recent
NORTHWEST Angle2009NORTHWEST Angle
On the map

Roosevelt Township on the map, 1968 to 1985

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

Roosevelt Township on the 1968 USGS mapRoosevelt Township on the 1985 USGS map1968Vineland sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Roosevelt Township.

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.

1935NorrisCampMN
Retake this view1935NorrisCampMN, 1935

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

Retake this view · +15
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Platte Lake TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGarrison Township2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townVinelandIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townRichardson TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townKathio Township1 historic placeC

Questions about Roosevelt Township’s history

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikipedia, 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.