Wabasha’s post office opened in 1842, and 28% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 95% of U.S. towns · #3 of 273 in Minnesota. What drives it
10 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 50 buildings. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1860.
The Wabasha post office opened in 1842, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Nelson's Landing (1848), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 894 in 18602020 census: 2,559184 years
How historic is Wabasha?
A+
More historic than 95% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Wabasha post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Wabasha’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Wabasha is more historic than 95% of U.S. towns, #3 of 273 in Minnesota. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age lowest.
A+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Wabasha’s overall grade.
Minnesota towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Minnesota town has 2.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Wabasha’s 236 sits above most of its state (100% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 61 historic buildings outnumber those of 86% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.0 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Wabasha’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Every building
Wabasha, building by building, 1885–1917
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
The story so far
Wabasha, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Wabasha yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Wabasha is a city and the county seat of Wabasha County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 2,559 at the time of the 2020 census. It is on the Mississippi River, near its confluence with the Zumbro River.
Its first post office opened in 1842. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 2,521 in 2010, 2,559 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Wabasha in 1920
Passages that mention Wabasha, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Wabasha County, Minnesota1920 · page 151Read the page →
Read the text
Methodist Episcopal Church.— The planting of the church in this place was a proceeding of no small difficulty, and it was more than a decade aftei the tii st attempts were made before the seed had germinated sufficiently to predicate a fact of life in the case at all. As Read’s Landing and Wabasha have always been connected for church purposes, save during those >eais fiom 1856 to 1866, in which it does not appear that Read’s Landing was even thought of in connection with the religious work of the Wabasha circuit, with which fiom 1854 to 1856 it was connected as a missionary station. In 1857, by vote of a
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Wabasha County, Minnesota1920 · page 32Read the page →
Read the text
“Fort de Bonsecours” gives rise to interesting speculation. A work of some authority, N. H. Winchell, ed. Aborigines of Minnesota (St. Paul, 1911), 526, has said, under the incorrect date of 1683: “Nicholas Perrot established a post on. the west side of the Mississippi river near the site of the city of Wabasha, but on the alluvial land at a lower level. It was about three and a half miles nearly east of the railroad station of Wabasha, and nearly opposite the mouth of the Buffalo river, at the north end of a large island. This was marked on some old maps as Fort Perrot, and later was occupied by a French trader named Roques, when it was known by the Sioux as Tepeeota, in
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Wabasha, 1818 to 1948
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
The Wabasha post office opened in 1842, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Wabasha rank for history?
Wabasha is more historic than 95% of U.S. towns, #3 of 273 in Minnesota. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Wabasha?
10 listings: 9 buildings, among them the Hurd House-Anderson Hotel (listed 1978, the first), and 1 historic district, the Wabasha Commercial Historic District, with 50 contributing buildings. 61 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Wabasha?
28% of Wabasha’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.0 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1969.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikidata (5), the National Register of Historic Places (10), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1911
2006
