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History · Vernon Township

Vernon Township’s post office opened in 1867, and 31% of its homes were built before 1940

1867first post office
0on the National Register
31%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Vernon Township began

When was Vernon Township founded?

1867

The Vernon Township post office opened in 1867, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Vernon (1867) and Oslo (1879), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 665159 years
Founding year: the first Vernon Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

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

Start Vernon Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Vernon 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, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Vernon
1867–1884
Oslo
1879–1902
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
OsloVernon
Gone or out of use
Oslo Post Officepost officeVernon Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Vernon Township
West Saint Olaf

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

The story so far

Vernon Township, in brief

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

Vernon Township is a township in Dodge County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 567 at the 2000 census. Vernon Township was organized in 1858, and named after Mount Vernon, the estate of George Washington.

Its first post office opened in 1867. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 665 in 2010, 665 in 2020.

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

Timeline

Vernon Township, 1867 to 1902

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1867Post officeThe Vernon post office opens
  3. 1879Post officeThe Oslo post office opens
  4. 1884Post officeThe Vernon post office closes
  5. 20th century
  6. 1902Post officeThe Oslo 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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Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Rock Dell TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCanisteo TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHayfield TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Vernon Township’s history

What year was Vernon Township founded?

The Vernon Township post office opened in 1867, 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.