On its age, its old homes and the National Register, St. Wendel Township is more historic than 40% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of St. Wendel Township’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. Wendel Township’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (23% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±14.7 points).
Founding year: our sources. 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. Wendel Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Spring Brook
1873–1874
Saint Wendell
1874–1905
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
CollegevilleSaint Wendel
Gone or out of use
Saint Wendell Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside St. Wendel Township
Saint Wendel
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The story so far
St. Wendel Township, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of St. Wendel Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
St. Wendel is an unincorporated community in St. Wendel Township, Stearns County, Minnesota, United States, near St. Joseph and Avon. The community is located along Stearns County Road 4 near 130th Avenue. Stearns County Road 3 is also in the immediate area.
Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 2,150 in 2010, 2,115 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about St. Wendel Township in 1915
Passages that mention St. Wendel Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Stearns County, Minnesota1915 · page 1397Read the page →
Read the text
St. Wendel Township. District Number 56, whose building is located about half a mile north of Collegeville station, was organized in 1867. The school officers were Mr. Theisen, Mr. Sand and Mr. Goedert Nicholas Hoffman was the first teacher.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
St. Wendel Township, 1873 to 1986
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of St. Wendel Township.
1986St Cloud sheet · 1:100,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of St. Wendel Township.
Famous people
Famous people close to St. Wendel Township
Nobody well known was born in St. Wendel Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
St. Wendel Township is more historic than 40% of U.S. towns. 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.
How old are the homes in St. Wendel Township?
17% of St. Wendel Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±14.7 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1977.
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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
