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History · Willmar Township

Half of Willmar Township’s homes were built after 1985

Most of Willmar Township was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1985. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1958 on, and the census since 1880.

0on the National Register
7%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Willmar Township’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Willmar Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Willmar Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Willmar Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewCol. Theodore Roosevelt at Wilmar, Minn…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Willmar Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Willmar Township.

Read it all →

Agricultural expansion and Willmar's establishment as a division point on the Great Northern Railway determined its growth. The first settlers arrived during the 1850s, attracted to the fertile land and abundant timber and game. The Dakota War of 1862 left the township abandoned for several years. The advent of the railroad in Kandiyohi County in 1869 brought new settlers. Many were of Swedish and Norwegian origin; residents of Scandinavian heritage are still a majority. In 1870, Leon (Chadwick) Willmar, a Belgian acting as an agent for the European bondholder of the Saint Paul and Pacific Railroad, bought the title to Section 1 of Willmar Township. Willmar was established as the county seat in 1871 and was incorporated as a village in 1874 and as a city in 1901.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Willmar Township, 1910 to 1958

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1910In the archiveCol. Theodore Roosevelt at Wilmar, Minn. - E. Elkjar, photographer
  3. 1937In the archiveExtemporaneous remarks (from rear platform of special train) at Willmar, Minn
  4. 1958On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Willmar Township, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s–1930s3 items
Col. Theodore Roosevelt at Wilmar, Minn. - E. Elkjar, photographer1910Col. Theodore Roosevelt at Wilmar, Minn. - E. Elkjar,…Col. Theodore Roosevelt at Wilmar, Minn. - E. Elkjar, photographer1910Col. Theodore Roosevelt at Wilmar, Minn. - E. Elkjar,…Extemporaneous remarks (from rear platform of special train) at Willmar, Minn1937Extemporaneous remarks (from rear platform of special…
1940s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
Today3 recent
2012-0821-Kandiyohi-SpicerHouse120122012-0821-Kandiyohi-SpicerHouse11964 & 1966 Pontiac GTO20111964 & 1966 Pontiac GTOWillmartornado711082008Willmartornado71108
On the map

Willmar Township on the map in 1958

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Willmar Township.

Willmar Township on the 1958 USGS map1958Willmar 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 Willmar 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.

Col. Theodore Roosevelt at Wilmar, Minn. - E. Elkjar, photographer
Retake this viewCol. Theodore Roosevelt at Wilmar, Minn. - E. Elkjar, photographer, 1910

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Willmar Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Willmar Township, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,0001880190019201940196019802000202021,015

Grew from 1,002 people in 1880 to 21,015 in 2020, more than tenfold.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Willmar7 historic placesB+Kandiyohi Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townDovre Township1 historic placeBSt. Johns TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWhitefield Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townFahlun TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Willmar Township’s history

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 (6), 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.