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History · Vasa Township

Vasa Township’s post office opened in 1868, and 36% of its homes were built before 1940

1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 19 buildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers and maps from 1974 on.

1868first post office
1on the National Register
36%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Vasa Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Vasa Township began

When was Vasa Township founded?

1868

The Vasa Township post office opened in 1868, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Spencer (1856) and Vasa (1868), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 857158 years
Founding year: the first Vasa Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Vasa 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 writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Vasa Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Vasa Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Vasa Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewFirst Church of: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Spencer
1856–1868
Vasa
1868–1955
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Vasa
Gone or out of use
Vasa Post Officepost officeWelchlocale
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Vasa Township
JemplandSwedish Methodist EpiscopalVasa

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

The story

How Vasa Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Vasa Township.

Read it all →

In 1853 Hans Mattson was the first European to settle the area. He later encouraged many Swedish families to join him. The group of families was known as the Mattson Settlement. The settlement was later renamed Vasa (variously referred to as Vasa Village), for the local Swedish church who had chosen the name of the king of Sweden during the Reformation.

ChaptersHistoric district

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Vasa Township, 1856 to 1974

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1856Post officeThe Spencer post office opens
  3. 1868Post officeThe Spencer post office closes
  4. 1868Post officeThe Vasa post office opens
  5. 1895In the archiveFirst Church of
  6. 20th century
  7. 1955Post officeThe Vasa post office closes
  8. 1974On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Vasa Township, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s2 items
First Church of1895–1905First Church ofVasa, Minnesota1895–1905Vasa, Minnesota
1900s–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
Today10 recent
Vasa Children's Home first building2023Vasa Children's Home first buildingWelch Village NYE 20202020Welch Village NYE 2020The town hall2019The town hallThe 1869 Vasa Lutheran Church2019The 1869 Vasa Lutheran ChurchThe 1869 Vasa Lutheran Church2019The 1869 Vasa Lutheran ChurchVasa historical marker2015Vasa historical markerVasa Swedish Lutheran Church2015Vasa Swedish Lutheran ChurchVasa Children's Home2012Vasa Children's HomeVasa mn wind protest2010Vasa mn wind protestVasaHistoricDistrict2008VasaHistoricDistrict
On the map

Vasa Township on the map, 1974 to 1991

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

Vasa Township on the 1974 USGS mapVasa Township on the 1985 USGS mapVasa Township on the 1991 USGS map1974Welch 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 Vasa Township.

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.

First Church of
Retake this viewFirst Church of, 1895–1905

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 listing protects 19 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
19
each building in a district counts
first listed
1975
Vasa Historic District
Vasa Historic District
Districts
All 1 listings
Vasa Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1975

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Welch Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCannon Falls TownshipIts storyC+Featherstone TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBelle Creek TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townDouglas TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Vasa Township’s history

What year was Vasa Township founded?

The Vasa Township post office opened in 1868, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Vasa Township?

One place: the Vasa Historic District (listed 1975).

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 (9), the Library of Congress (3), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.