The story
Read it all →How Viola Township came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Viola Township.
Viola was platted in 1878. The community was named for Viola Buck, the wife of a settler.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Viola Township
Viola Township’s post office opened in 1862, and 29% of its homes were built before 1940
Its Register listing is the Viola Cooperative Creamery. Below: maps from 1939 on.
1862first post office
1on the National Register
29%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Viola Township began
When was Viola Township founded?
1862
The Viola Township post office opened in 1862, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Viola (1862) and Viola Centre (1878), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 548164 years
Founding year: the first Viola Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Viola Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Viola Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Viola Township’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.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.
Viola
Viola Centre
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Viola
Gone or out of use
Violalocale
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Viola Township
Oak HillPleasant ValleySaint Paul's
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Timeline
Viola Township, 1862 to 1963
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
Add from your albumOn the map
Viola Township on the map, 1939 to 1972
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Viola Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1939Rochester sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Viola Township.
On the National Register
1 historic place in Viola Township
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1999
Viola Cooperative Creamery
Buildings
Architectural styles listings
English Georgian Revival1
All 1 listings
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Viola Township
Nobody well known was born in Viola Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Viola Township’s history
What year was Viola Township founded?
The Viola Township post office opened in 1862, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What is on the National Register in Viola Township?
One place: the Viola Cooperative Creamery (listed 1999).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 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.