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History · Somerset Township

Somerset Township’s post office opened in 1857, and 44% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1967 on.

1857first post office
0on the National Register
44%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Somerset Township began

When was Somerset Township founded?

1857

The Somerset Township post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Somerset (1857), Steele Centre (1858) and River Point (1859), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 733169 years
Founding year: the first Somerset Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Somerset Township’s past

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

Lost villages4 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Somerset Township, and 5 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Somerset Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Somerset Township’s homes were built before 1945.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

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

Four other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Somerset
1857–1859
Steele Centre
1858–1893
River Point
1859–1903
Steele Center
1893–1902
Hope
1916–today
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
HopeLitomyslRiver PointSacoSteele Center
Gone or out of use
Riverpoint Post Officepost officeSteele Center Post Officepost office
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Somerset Township
BohemianDanishHoly TrinityOak MoundSteele Center

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

Help out

Start Somerset Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Somerset Township, in brief

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

Somerset Township is a township in Steele County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 847 at the 2000 census. Somerset Township was organized in 1858.

Its first post office opened in 1857. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 732 in 2010, 733 in 2020.

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

Timeline

Somerset Township, 1857 to 1967

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1857Post officeThe Somerset post office opens
  3. 1858Post officeThe Steele Centre post office opens
  4. 1859Post officeThe Somerset post office closes
  5. 1859Post officeThe River Point post office opens
  6. 1893Post officeThe Steele Centre post office closes
  7. 20th century
  8. 1903Post officeThe River Point post office closes
  9. 1967On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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.
Add from your album
On the map

Somerset Township on the map, 1967 to 1985

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

Somerset Township on the 1967 USGS mapSomerset Township on the 1985 USGS map1967Steele Center 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 Somerset Township.

Famous people

Famous people close to Somerset Township

Nobody well known was born in Somerset Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Lynn FrazierAmerican politician · b. 1874
E
Earl DouglassAmerican paleontologist · b. 1862
E
E. T. PickeringAmerican football and baseball coach · b. 1888
Harvey HolmesAmerican football player and coach, baseball co… · b. 1873
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Owatonna TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLemond TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSummit TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAurora TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Somerset Township’s history

What year was Somerset Township founded?

The Somerset Township post office opened in 1857, 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 →
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 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.