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–Not graded
History · Ulen

Ulen’s post office opened in 1884

Most of Ulen was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1992. Below: 6 old photos and papers from 1906 on.

1884first post office
0on the National Register
9%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Ulen’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Ulen began

When was Ulen founded?

1884

The Ulen post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Oneland (1885) and Onland (1886), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

2020 census: 476142 years
Founding year: the first Ulen post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Ulen’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Ulen.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Ulen’s post office has been open since 1884. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Ulen
1884–today
Oneland
1885–1886
Onland
1886–1887
18801950today

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

The story

How Ulen came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Ulen.

Read it all →

Ulen Township was named after an early European to settle in the region, Ole Ulen. Ulen was incorporated as a village on November 12, 1896. A meeting was held on June 7, 1881, at the home of Nels Wiger for the purpose of organizing Ulen Township. Robert Hanson, Elias Rost and Ole Mellum were the election judges and Nels Wiger served as the clerk. One of the concerns of the early township officials was the building of roads. There were no tax funds for this purpose so each able-bodied man was required to work for two days a year building roads. The first road was laid out and built in 1883.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Ulen, 1884 to 1910

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1884Post officeThe Ulen post office opens
  3. 1885Post officeThe Oneland post office opens
  4. 1886Post officeThe Oneland post office closes
  5. 1886Post officeThe Onland post office opens
  6. 1887Post officeThe Onland post office closes
  7. 20th century
  8. 1906In the archiveUlen Residence
  9. 1910In the archiveUlen Band
By decade

Ulen, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s–1910s6 items
Ulen Residence1906Ulen ResidenceUlen Band1910sUlen BandPostcardUlen Bank1910sUlen BankPostcardUlen Church 1910s1910sUlen Church 1910sPostcardUlen Street 19111911Ulen Street 1911PostcardUlen Store1913Ulen StorePostcard
1920s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Ulen Residence
Retake this viewUlen Residence, 1906

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Ulen’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

Famous people close to Ulen

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

See all →
Adolph HersethAmerican musician · b. 1921
Gabriel HaugeAmerican economist and businessman · b. 1914
J
Jakob GlerupDanish footballer · b. 1975
L
Lucile BlanchAmerican artist · b. 1895
Owen Harding WangensteenSurgeon, university teacher and medical writer · b. 1898
B
Ben EllefsonAmerican football tight end · b. 1996
Help out

Finish Ulen’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewUlen Residence: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Ulen TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Ulen’s history

What year was Ulen founded?

The Ulen post office opened in 1884, 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 (6), 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.