Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Welcome

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Welcome

Welcome’s post office opened in 1881, and 38% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1970 on and the census since 1890.

1881first post office
0on the National Register
38%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Welcome began

When was Welcome founded?

1881

The Welcome post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Lily Creek (1881), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 140 in 18902020 census: 710145 years
Founding year: the first Welcome post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Welcome’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 Welcome are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Welcome’s homes were built before 1950.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Welcome’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Welcome’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
The story

How Welcome came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Welcome.

Read it all →

While a post office called "Welcome" has been in operation since 1881, the city was not incorporated until 1890. Welcome was incorporated, first as a village, on May 7, 1890, and named after homesteader Alfred M. Welcome, who owned a farm on what became the city's southwest side.

A local newspaper, The Welcome Times, circulated in town from 1895 through 1969 before being merged with the Sherburn Advance-Standard.

In 1988, Welcome combined with nearby Sherburn and Trimont schools to form the Martin County West School District. In 1999, Welcome combined its police department with nearby Sherburn to form the joint Sherburn/Welcome Police Department.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Welcome, 1881 to 1970

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1881Post officeThe Lily Creek post office opens
  3. 1881Post officeThe Lily Creek post office closes
  4. 1881Post officeThe Welcome post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1911Born hereLeslie J. Edhlund is born here
  7. 1970On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Welcome, decade by decade

Today1 recent
MNMap-doton-Welcome2005MNMap-doton-Welcome
On the map

Welcome on the map, 1970 to 1985

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Welcome. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Welcome on the 1970 USGS mapWelcome on the 1985 USGS map1970Welcome sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Welcome.

People over time

Welcome, census by census

02004006008001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 855

Between 140 and 855 people in every census since 1890.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Welcome’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Welcome’s post office has been open since 1881. Another post office, Lily Creek, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Lily Creek
1881–1881
Welcome
1881–today
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Elm Tree Mobile Home Park
Gone or out of use
Welcomelocale
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Welcome
Saint Paul's EvangelicalTrinity Lutheran

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Rolling Green TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townManyaska TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townFox Lake TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Welcome’s history

What year was Welcome founded?

The Welcome post office opened in 1881, 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 →
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 Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikipedia, 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) 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.