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History · Fredonia

Fredonia’s post office opened in 1905, and 47% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1982 on, and the census since 1920.

1905first post office
0on the National Register
47%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Fredonia’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Fredonia began

When was Fredonia founded?

1905

The Fredonia post office opened in 1905, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 296 in 19202020 census: 38121 years
Founding year: the first Fredonia post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Fredonia’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 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 394 in 1930; 38 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Fredonia’s homes were built before 1952.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Fredonia’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewFredoniacentennial: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Fredonia, census by census

0100200300400192019401960198020002020Peak: 394

Peaked at 394 in 1930; 38 people lived here in 2020.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

The story so far

Fredonia, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Fredonia yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Fredonia is a city in Logan County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 38 at the 2020 census. Fredonia was founded in 1905.

Its first post office opened in 1905. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 46 to 38 (-17%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Fredonia, 1905 to 1982

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1905Post officeThe Fredonia post office opens
  3. 1930CensusPopulation peaks at 394
  4. 1982On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Fredonia, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
FredoniacentennialDate?Fredoniacentennial
On the map

Fredonia on the map in 1982

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Fredonia.

Fredonia on the 1982 USGS map1982Fredonia 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 Fredonia.

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.

Fredoniacentennial
Retake this viewFredoniacentennial

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

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

Famous people close to Fredonia

Nobody well known was born in Fredonia itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Angie DickinsonAmerican actress · b. 1931
S
Sidney GilliatBritish film director, producer and screenwriter · b. 1908
J
John BerkeyAmerican artist · b. 1932
V
Vernon R. LaningAmerican politician · b. 1948
L
Lloyd RiglerAmerican businessman and philanthropist · b. 1915
T
Tim MathernAmerican politician · b. 1950

Questions about Fredonia’s history

What year was Fredonia founded?

The Fredonia post office opened in 1905, 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 (1), 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.