On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Waconia Township is more historic than 93% of U.S. towns. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
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HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Waconia Township’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 Waconia Township’s 342 sits above most of its state (100% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 40 historic buildings outnumber those of 83% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.1 points).
Founding year: our sources. 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 →
A post office has been in operation at Waconia since 1860. The city took its name from Lake Waconia.
Several Waconia buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places (see: National Register of Historic Places listings in Carver County, Minnesota). One of the more prominent is Coney Island of the West on Lake Waconia, where cottages, boathouses and resort hotels attracted tourists, especially from 1884 until the late 1920s, when the rise of the automobile allowed people to travel farther away for vacations.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Waconia Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1957Waconia sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Waconia 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.
Retake this viewBand pavilion, 1907
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Waconia Township’s page.
Waconia Township is more historic than 93% of U.S. towns. 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 Waconia Township?
One place: the Coney Island of the West (listed 1976).
How old are the homes in Waconia Township?
20% of Waconia Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.1 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1978.
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 (7), the Library of Congress (9), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.
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