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History · Taopi

Taopi’s post office opened in 1875, and 21% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1965 on and the census since 1880.

1875first post office
0on the National Register
21%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Taopi began

When was Taopi founded?

1875

The Taopi post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 115 in 18802020 census: 61151 years
Founding year: the first Taopi post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Taopi’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 Taopi are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 153 in 1920; 61 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Taopi’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Taopi’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

Taopi, census by census

010018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 153

Peaked at 153 in 1920; 61 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

The story

How Taopi came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Taopi.

Read it all →

The name of the village is derived from Taopi, the native chief who befriended the settlers after the New Ulm massacre. It was platted in 1875 by the Taopi Farming Company in the name of John W. Wood. The first lot was bought by James Olberg, and J. Martz opened a furniture store there before moving the operation to Le Roy. Taopi had the largest steam-powered flour mill in southern Minnesota; it could process 300,000 bushels of wheat each year.

The village suffered significant damage from an EF2 tornado on April 12, 2022, part of the April 2022 North American storm complex. Two noncritical injuries were reported.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Taopi, 1875 to 1965

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1875Post officeThe Taopi post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 153
  5. 1965On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Taopi, decade by decade

Today3 recent
Taopi, Minnesota2023Taopi, MinnesotaEF2 damage Taopi, Minnesota 20222022EF2 damage Taopi, Minnesota 2022MNMap-doton-Taopi2005MNMap-doton-Taopi
On the map

Taopi on the map, 1965 to 1985

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

Taopi on the 1965 USGS mapTaopi on the 1985 USGS map1965Adams 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 Taopi.

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Taopi’s post office has been open since 1875.

Gone or out of use
Taopilocale
1cemetery inside Taopi
Woodlawn

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

Questions about Taopi’s history

What year was Taopi founded?

The Taopi post office opened in 1875, 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 Wikimedia Commons (3), 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.