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History · Carpenter Township

Carpenter Township dates to 1903, and 38% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1967 on.

1903founded
0on the National Register
38%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Carpenter Township began

When was Carpenter Township founded?

1903

Carpenter Township dates its founding to 1903 (Wikipedia’s history). Its post office opened in 1882.

2020 census: 43123 years
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1882.The full story ↓

What stands out about Carpenter 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 Carpenter Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
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Start Carpenter Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Carpenter Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Carpenter Township.

Read it all →

It was established with the opening of the Carpenter post office on April 9, 1903 at the general merchandise store of Anton T. Julseth in Holmes Township. The post office was named for nearby Carpenter Lake, which memorialized a prominent 1878 settler of French ancestry, Henri Charpentier, who drowned in the lake in 1888. Charpentier's surname is sometimes rendered "Scharpenter" in contemporary records; Carpenter is the English transliteration. Carpenter is located in the north-northwest of the county, 11 miles west-northwest of Saint John, North Dakota, near the border with Manitoba Province, Canada. Carpenter had a population of 15 in 1940, and 25 in 1960.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Carpenter Township, 1882 to 1967

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1882Post officeThe Bellevyria post office opens
  3. 1898Post officeThe Bellevyria post office closes
  4. 20th century
  5. 1903
    FoundingCarpenter Township is established
  6. 1967On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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.

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On the map

Carpenter Township on the map, 1967 to 1985

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

Carpenter Township on the 1967 USGS mapCarpenter Township on the 1985 USGS map1967Luverne SE 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 Carpenter Township.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Another post office, Bellevyria, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Gone or out of use
Bellevyrialocale
1cemetery inside Carpenter Township
Hope

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.

Colgate TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHope1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWillow Lake TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMelrose TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townEllsbury TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Carpenter Township’s history

What year was Carpenter Township founded?

In 1903, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Carpenter Township’s post office opened in 1882.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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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 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.