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History · St. Hilaire

St. Hilaire’s post office opened in 1882, and 22% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1959 on and the census since 1890.

1882first post office
0on the National Register
22%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How St. Hilaire began

When was St. Hilaire founded?

1882

The St. Hilaire post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 193 in 18902020 census: 273144 years
Founding year: the first St. Hilaire post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about St. Hilaire’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 St. Hilaire are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 840 in 1900; 273 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start St. Hilaire’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how St. Hilaire’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
People over time

St. Hilaire, census by census

02004006008001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 840

Peaked at 840 in 1900; 273 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on St. Hilaire’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How St. Hilaire came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of St. Hilaire.

Read it all →

St. Hilaire was platted in 1882 and incorporated as a village on the auspicious date of July 4, 1883. Also on that date, St. Hilaire had rail service for the first time, as the Great Northern Railway opened a branch line from Crookston, Minnesota through Shirley, seven miles north of Crookston, Dorothy and Ives Station, to St. Hilaire.

A Frenchman named St. Hilaire lived in a shack by the Red Lake River, selling items like gunpowder and tobacco, and when an item was needed, residents would "go to St. Hilaire" for it, and the name stuck.

A Frenchman named Arthur Yvernault bought land on which the townsite was then platted and named for his hometown in France.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

St. Hilaire, 1882 to 1959

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1882Post officeThe Saint Hilaire post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1900CensusPopulation peaks at 840
  5. 1959On 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

St. Hilaire on the map, 1959 to 1985

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

St. Hilaire on the 1959 USGS mapSt. Hilaire on the 1976 USGS mapSt. Hilaire on the 1985 USGS map1959Thief River Falls 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 St. Hilaire.

Famous people

Famous people close to St. Hilaire

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

See all →
M
Mel PetersonAmerican basketball player · b. 1938
Wyatt SmithAmerican ice hockey player · b. 1977
M
Michael ForneyAmerican ice hockey player · b. 1988
Ralph R. EricksonUnited States federal judge · b. 1959
John H. HayAmerican military personnel · b. 1917
Lorie Skjerven GildeaAmerican judge · b. 1961
Places that used to be

Old corners

Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Northside Trailer ParkSaint Hilaire

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.

River Falls TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBlack River TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about St. Hilaire’s history

What year was St. Hilaire founded?

The St. Hilaire post office opened in 1882, 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 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.