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History · Shooks Township

Shooks Township’s post office opened in 1911

Most of Shooks Township was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1987. Below: maps from 1919 on.

1911first post office
0on the National Register
9%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Shooks Township began

When was Shooks Township founded?

1911

The Shooks Township post office opened in 1911, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Shooks (1911), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 187115 years
Founding year: the first Shooks Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Shooks 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 writtenNo old photos of Shooks Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19193 editions of the USGS map, 1919 to 1971. Watch Shooks Township change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Shooks Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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On the map

Shooks Township on the map, 1919 to 1971

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

Shooks Township on the 1919 USGS mapShooks Township on the 1924 USGS mapShooks Township on the 1971 USGS map1919Bridgie 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 Shooks Township.

The story so far

Shooks Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Shooks Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Shooks is an unincorporated community in Shooks Township, Beltrami County, Minnesota, United States. The community is located northeast of Bemidji at the junction of Minnesota State Highways 1 and 72.

Its first post office opened in 1911. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 189 in 2010, 187 in 2020.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Shooks Township, 1911 to 1966

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1911Post officeThe Shooks post office opens
  3. 1919On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 1966Post officeThe Shooks post office closes
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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Places that used to be

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

Another post office, Shooks, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Shooks
Gone or out of use
Shooks Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Shooks Township
Saint Joseph

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Kelliher TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHornet TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCormant TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townKelliherIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLangor TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Shooks Township’s history

What year was Shooks Township founded?

The Shooks Township post office opened in 1911, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
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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 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.