San Francisco Township’s post office opened in 1856, and 1 of its places is on the National Register
Most of San Francisco Township was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1989. Its Register listing is the District No. 22 School. Below: maps from 1957 on.
The San Francisco Township post office opened in 1856, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, San Francisco (1856), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 871170 years
Founding year: the first San Francisco Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about San Francisco Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
San Francisco was first settled in 1854 and named by the founder, William Foster, after the city in California. It was reportedly the original county seat of Carver County, Minnesota, but lost that status to Chaska a year later. The town lasted about ten years from its founding and had a post office from 1856 until 1858 and again from 1861 until 1862. It still existed as a town in 1870, as there is a U.S. federal census record for it.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of San Francisco Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1957New Prague 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 San Francisco Township.
On the National Register
1 historic place in San Francisco Township
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
