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History · Spring Prairie Township

31% of Spring Prairie Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1919 on and the census since 2000.

0on the National Register
31%homes built before 1940
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What stands out about Spring Prairie 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 Spring Prairie Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Spring Prairie Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Spring Prairie 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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The story so far

Spring Prairie Township, in brief

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

Spring Prairie Township is a township in Clay County, Minnesota, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 506, up from 368 at the previous census. The township is notable for being the home of an established Hutterite colony, called Spring Prairie Colony. As a result about a fourth (25.7%) of the township speak an other than English or Spanish Indo-European language, most likely the Hutterite German.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 368 to 506 (+38%).

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

Timeline

Spring Prairie Township, 1899 to 1969

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1899Post officeThe Averill post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1919On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1969Post officeThe Averill 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.

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On the map

Spring Prairie Township on the map, 1919 to 1966

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

Spring Prairie Township on the 1919 USGS mapSpring Prairie Township on the 1966 USGS map1919Hawley 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 Spring Prairie Township.

People over time

Spring Prairie Township, census by census

010020030040050020002020Peak: 506

Between 364 and 506 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Spring Prairie Township

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

See all →
Warren MagnusonAmerican politician · b. 1905
J
Jason BlakeAmerican ice hockey player · b. 1973
W
Will BorgenIce hockey player · b. 1996
Olaus MurieAmerican naturalist · b. 1889
Chris VandeVeldeAmerican ice hockey player · b. 1987
Mark CullenAmerican ice hockey player · b. 1978
Places that used to be

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

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

Hamlets and corners on the map
Averill
Gone or out of use
AverilllocaleAverill Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Spring Prairie Township
Spring Prairie

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.

Moland TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCromwell TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townRiverton Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townFlowing TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Spring Prairie Township’s history

Memory lane

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

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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, 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.