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History · Sauk Rapids Township

Sauk Rapids Township dates to 1851

Most of Sauk Rapids Township was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1976. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1950 on, and the census since 1860.

1851founded
0on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Sauk Rapids Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Sauk Rapids Township began

When was Sauk Rapids Township founded?

1851

Sauk Rapids Township dates its founding to 1851 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1860.

First census: 167 in 18602020 census: 521175 years
Founding year: Wikidata.The full story ↓

What stands out about Sauk Rapids 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.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Sauk Rapids Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Sauk Rapids 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 viewMississippi Bridge, no. 1: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Sauk Rapids Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Sauk Rapids Township.

Read it all →

Sauk Rapids was originally little more than a forest of oak, maple and basswood trees along the Mississippi River until the first home was constructed there in 1851, a large mansion named Lynden Terrace erected by W.H. Wood. Soon other settlers followed and the town was named Sauk Rapids after the rapids just below the Sauk River's mouth on the Mississippi. The new settlement was along the Red River Trails.

Soon a general store was built, then a hotel, and a large jail. The first settlers organized a church that was soon followed by a Methodist, an Episcopalian and a Lutheran church. The first paper outside of St. Paul was the Sauk Rapids Frontiersman, founded in 1854.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Sauk Rapids Township, 1851 to 1950

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1851
    FoundingSauk Rapids Township is established
  3. 20th century
  4. 1910In the archiveMississippi Bridge, no. 1
  5. 1950On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Sauk Rapids Township, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s1 item
Mississippi Bridge, no. 11910Mississippi Bridge, no. 1
1920s–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
Today5 recent
BNSF Railroad and Railway Avenue - Sauk Rapids, Minnesota - Winter2016BNSF Railroad and Railway Avenue - Sauk Rapids, Minne…Leonard Robinson House2013Leonard Robinson HouseFlickr - DVS1mn - 75 Chevrolet Caprice2011Flickr - DVS1mn - 75 Chevrolet CapriceOldsaukrapidsbridge2006OldsaukrapidsbridgeSauk rapids sign2005Sauk rapids sign
On the map

Sauk Rapids Township on the map, 1950 to 1993

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

Sauk Rapids Township on the 1950 USGS mapSauk Rapids Township on the 1974 USGS mapSauk Rapids Township on the 1993 USGS map1950St Cloud 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 Sauk Rapids 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.

Mississippi Bridge, no. 1
Retake this viewMississippi Bridge, no. 1, 1910

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Sauk Rapids Township, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00010,00012,00014,00019001950200013,862

Grew from 167 people in 1860 to 13,862 in 2020, more than tenfold.

17 censuses, 1860–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Sauk Rapids1 historic placeC+SartellIts storyDMinden TownshipIts storyC−St. Cloud14 historic placesBWatab TownshipIts storyC−Le Sauk Township1 historic placeC

Questions about Sauk Rapids Township’s history

What year was Sauk Rapids Township founded?

In 1851, according to Wikidata. the census of 1860 counted 167 people here.

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 (5), the Library of Congress (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.