Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Akra Township

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 · Akra Township

Akra Township’s post office opened in 1890, and 21% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Gunlogson Farmstead Historic Site. Below: maps from 1964 on.

1890first post office
1on the National Register
21%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Akra Township began

When was Akra Township founded?

1890

The Akra Township post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Hallson (1882) and Akra (1890), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 235136 years
Founding year: the first Akra Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Akra 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 writtenNo old photos of Akra Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Akra Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Akra Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Akra Township’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
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hallson
1882–1960
Akra
1890–1973
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
AkraHallson
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Akra Township
HallsonOld PetersPetersVidalin Lutheran

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

The story

How Akra Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Akra Township.

Read it all →

Akra Township was organized in 1882, and was known as one of the "Icelandic Townships," due to its large population of Icelanders who had settled here. Akra takes its name from Akranes, Iceland, a town near Reykjavík.

Akra Township was a "double township," spanning two full survey townships. In 1888, the northern part of the township was separated and organized separately as Avon Township (now Advance Township).

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Akra Township, 1882 to 1973

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1882Post officeThe Hallson post office opens
  3. 1890Post officeThe Akra post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1960Post officeThe Hallson post office closes
  6. 1964On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1973Post officeThe Akra post office closes
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Akra Township on the map, 1964 to 1985

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

Akra Township on the 1964 USGS mapAkra Township on the 1985 USGS map1964Hallson 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 Akra Township.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Akra Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
4
each building in a district counts
first listed
2008
Gunlogson Farmstead Historic Site
Gunlogson Farmstead Historic Site
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Vernacular1
All 1 listings
Gunlogson Farmstead Historic SiteBuilding · listed 2008

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Park TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBeaulieu TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCavalier TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAdvance TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLa Moure TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Akra Township’s history

What year was Akra Township founded?

The Akra Township post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Akra Township?

One place: the Gunlogson Farmstead Historic Site (listed 2008).

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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.