St. Augusta’s post office opened in 1857, and 1 of its places is on the National Register
More historic than 44% of U.S. towns · #120 of 273 in Minnesota. What drives it
Most of St. Augusta was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2002. Its Register listing is the Church of St. Mary Help of Christians-Catholic. Below: maps from 1951 on and the census since 1880.
The St. Augusta post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Saint Augusta (1857), West Saint Augusta (1863) and Luxemburg (1865), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 798 in 18802020 census: 3,497169 years
How historic is St. Augusta?
C+
More historic than 44% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first St. Augusta post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives St. Augusta’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, St. Augusta is more historic than 44% of U.S. towns, #120 of 273 in Minnesota. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of St. Augusta’s overall grade.
Minnesota towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Minnesota town has 2.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so St. Augusta’s 5.5 sits near the middle of its state (65% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 2 historic buildings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.8 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about St. Augusta’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Writing in 1997, Jewish-American historian of America's religious architecture Marilyn J. Chiat described the early history of the region as follows, "Father Francis X. Pierz, a missionary to Indians in central Minnesota, published a series of articles in 1851 in German Catholic newspapers advocating Catholic settlement in central Minnesota. Large numbers of immigrants, mainly German, but also Slovenian and Polish, responded. Over 20 parishes where formed in what is now Stearns County, each centered on a church-oriented hamlet. As the farmers prospered, the small frame churches were replaced by more substantial buildings of brick or stone such as St. Mary, Help of Christians, a Gothic Revival stone structure built in 1873. Stearns County retains in its German character and is still home to one of the largest rural Catholic populations in Anglo-America."
The St. Augusta post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does St. Augusta rank for history?
St. Augusta is more historic than 44% of U.S. towns, #120 of 273 in Minnesota. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in St. Augusta?
One place: the Church of St. Mary Help of Christians-Catholic (listed 1982).
How old are the homes in St. Augusta?
8% of St. Augusta’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.8 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 2002.
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).
From Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.
