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History · St. Olaf Township

St. Olaf Township’s post office opened in 1894, and 18% of its homes were built before 1940

1894first post office
0on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Farragutful · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How St. Olaf Township began

When was St. Olaf Township founded?

1894

The St. Olaf Township post office opened in 1894, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Saint Oloff (1870) and Saint Olaf (1894), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 395132 years
Founding year: the first St. Olaf Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about St. Olaf 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 St. Olaf Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s St. Olaf Township.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start St. Olaf Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how St. Olaf 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
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Saint Oloff
1870–1894
Saint Olaf
1894–1904
18701950today
Gone or out of use
Saint Olaf Post Officepost officeSchool Number 2schoolSchool Number 3schoolSchool Number 4schoolSchool Number 42schoolSchool Number 9school
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside St. Olaf Township
BethelKvamLakesideSaint Olaf

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

The story so far

St. Olaf Township, in brief

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

St. Olaf Township is a township in Otter Tail County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 395 at the 2020 census. St. Olaf Township was originally called Oxford Township, and under the latter name was organized in 1869. The current name, adopted in 1870, was named after Olaf II of Norway.

Its first post office opened in 1894. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 352 to 395 (+12%).

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

Timeline

St. Olaf Township, 1870 to 1904

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1870Post officeThe Saint Oloff post office opens
  3. 1894Post officeThe Saint Oloff post office closes
  4. 1894Post officeThe Saint Olaf post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1904Post officeThe Saint Olaf 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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Famous people

Famous people close to St. Olaf Township

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

See all →
Frank AlbertsonAmerican character actor · b. 1909
Marcus BorgAmerican Bible scholar · b. 1942
Cliff SterrettAmerican cartoonist · b. 1883
Bill LutherAmerican politician · b. 1945
Wynn RobertsAmerican biathlete · b. 1988
Art LaskyAmerican boxer · b. 1908
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Tordenskjold TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townTumuli TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPelican Lake TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townEagle Lake TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about St. Olaf Township’s history

What year was St. Olaf Township founded?

The St. Olaf Township post office opened in 1894, 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 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.