Most of Warroad was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. Its Register listing is the Canadian National Depot. Below: 2 old photos and papers from 1910 on.
Founding year: the first Warroad post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Warroad’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Warroad is more historic than 41% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Warroad’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 Warroad’s 5.1 sits near the middle of its state (63% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.6 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 Warroad’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Warroad was once one of the largest Ojibwe villages on Lake of the Woods. The Ojibwe fought a long war against the Sioux for the lake's rice fields. Occupying the prairies of the Red River Valley, the Sioux often invaded the territory by way of the Red and Roseau Rivers, a route that ended at the mouth of the Warroad River. This was the old "war road" from which the river and village derive their name.
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 Warroad post office opened in 1897, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Warroad rank for history?
Warroad is more historic than 41% 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 Warroad?
One place: the Canadian National Depot (listed 1982).
How old are the homes in Warroad?
7% of Warroad’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.6 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1982.
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), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
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