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History · Balfour

Balfour’s post office opened in 1899, and 67% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1929 on and the census since 1910.

1899first post office
0on the National Register
67%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Andrew Filer from Seattle (ex-Minneapolis) · CC BY-SA 2.0
Quick answers

How Balfour began

When was Balfour founded?

1899

The Balfour post office opened in 1899, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 399 in 19102020 census: 20127 years
Founding year: the first Balfour post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Balfour’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 Balfour are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Balfour’s homes were built before 1938.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Balfour’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Balfour’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 Balfour came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Balfour.

Read it all →

Balfour was founded in 1899 when the Soo Railroad was extended to that point. The city was named for Arthur Balfour, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The post office in Balfour was founded in 1899.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Balfour, 1899 to 1998

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1899Post officeThe Balfour post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1929On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1998Born hereCordell Volson is born here
By decade

Balfour, decade by decade

Today19 recent
Balfour, North Dakota2008Balfour, North DakotaBalfour, North Dakota2008Balfour, North DakotaBalfour, North Dakota2008Balfour, North DakotaBalfour, North Dakota2008Balfour, North DakotaBalfour, North Dakota2008Balfour, North DakotaBalfour, North Dakota2008Balfour, North DakotaBalfour, North Dakota2008Balfour, North DakotaBalfour, North Dakota2008Balfour, North DakotaBalfour, North Dakota2008Balfour, North DakotaBalfour, North Dakota2008Balfour, North DakotaBalfour, North Dakota2008Balfour, North DakotaBalfour, North Dakota2008Balfour, North DakotaBalfour, North Dakota2008Balfour, North DakotaBalfour, North Dakota2008Balfour, North DakotaBalfour, North Dakota2008Balfour, North DakotaBalfour, North Dakota2008Balfour, North DakotaBalfour, North Dakota2008Balfour, North DakotaBalfour, North Dakota2008Balfour, North DakotaBalfour Community Hall and Post Office Balfour, North Dakota 10-16-20082008Balfour Community Hall and Post Office Balfour, North…
On the map

Balfour on the map, 1929 to 1958

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

Balfour on the 1929 USGS mapBalfour on the 1958 USGS map1929Balfour 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 Balfour.

People over time

Balfour, census by census

0100200300400192019401960198020002020Peak: 399

Between 20 and 399 people in every census since 1910.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Questions about Balfour’s history

What year was Balfour founded?

The Balfour post office opened in 1899, 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 (19), 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.