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History · Drayton

Drayton’s post office opened in 1878, and 22% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Drayton United Methodist Church. Below: maps from 1939 on and the census since 1880.

1878first post office
1on the National Register
22%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 Drayton began

When was Drayton founded?

1878

The Drayton post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 62 in 18802020 census: 757148 years
Founding year: the first Drayton post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Drayton’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 Drayton are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,095 in 1970; 757 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Drayton’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Drayton’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
People over time

Drayton, census by census

02004006008001,0001,20018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,095

Peaked at 1,095 in 1970; 757 people lived here in 2020.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

The story

How Drayton came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Drayton.

Read it all →

Drayton was originally called Hastings Landing. It was given its present name by Canadian settlers from Drayton, Ontario. A drawbridge, built in anticipation of riverboat traffic returning to the upper Red River, was built in 1911 to connect Drayton to Minnesota. Because of low river levels the riverboats never materialized, with the result that the drawbridge never needed to be raised.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Drayton, 1878 to 1970

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1878Post officeThe Drayton post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1939On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1944Born hereFrank Brosseau is born here
  6. 1970CensusPopulation peaks at 1,095
By decade

Drayton, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Drayton Drug2005Drayton DrugNDMap-doton-Drayton2004NDMap-doton-Drayton
On the map

Drayton on the map, 1939 to 1971

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

Drayton on the 1939 USGS mapDrayton on the 1941 USGS mapDrayton on the 1971 USGS map1939Drayton 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 Drayton.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Drayton

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1979
Drayton United Methodist Church
Drayton United Methodist Church
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Romanesque Revival1
Gothic1
All 1 listings
Drayton United Methodist ChurchBuilding · listed 1979

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

Questions about Drayton’s history

What year was Drayton founded?

The Drayton post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Drayton?

One place: the Drayton United Methodist Church (listed 1979).

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 (2), the National Register of Historic Places (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.