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History · Fullerton

Fullerton’s post office opened in 1888, and 41% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Carroll House Hotel. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1894 on, and the census since 1910.

1888first post office
1on the National Register
41%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Fullerton’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Fullerton began

When was Fullerton founded?

1888

The Fullerton post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 206 in 19102020 census: 62138 years
Founding year: the first Fullerton post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Fullerton’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 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Fullerton’s homes were built before 1959.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Fullerton’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewCarroll House, a hotel: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Fullerton came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Fullerton.

Read it all →

The city was named after Grand Rapids, Michigan lawyer Edward Philo Fuller (1820–1866). In the 1880s, Edward Fuller was a major investor in the Dickey County land acquisitions with his daughter and son-in-law, Sofia (Fuller) Sweet (1854–1923) and her husband, Grand Rapids mayor Edwin Forrest Sweet (1847–1935). Sweet Ranch was located just to the southwest of what would later become the town of Fullerton.

In 1887, Fullerton's original town plots were surveyed and the Soo Line Railroad through the town site was completed in September 1887.

A post office was established at Fullerton in 1888, and remained in operation until 1989.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Fullerton, 1888 to 1989

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1888Post officeThe Fullerton post office opens
  3. 1894On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 20th century
  5. 1980In the archiveCarroll House, a hotel
  6. 1989Post officeThe Fullerton post office closes
By decade

Fullerton, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1980s2 items
Carroll House, a hotel1980Carroll House, a hotelCarroll House, a hotel1980Carroll House, a hotel
1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today2 recent
DMVW 7505, Fullerton, N.D. - Flickr - chief huddleston2019DMVW 7505, Fullerton, N.D. - Flickr - chief huddlestonNDMap-doton-Fullerton2004NDMap-doton-Fullerton
On the map

Fullerton on the map, 1894 to 1982

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

Fullerton on the 1894 USGS mapFullerton on the 1982 USGS map1894Fullerton 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 Fullerton.

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.

Carroll House, a hotel
Retake this viewCarroll House, a hotel, 1980

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Fullerton

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
first listed
1994
Carroll House Hotel
Carroll House Hotel
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Shingle Style1
Second Empire1
Carroll House HotelShingle Style

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

People over time

Fullerton, census by census

0100200192019401960198020002020Peak: 206

Between 54 and 206 people in every census since 1910.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Fullerton had its own post office from 1888 to 1989.

Fullerton
1888–1989
18801950today

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

Questions about Fullerton’s history

What year was Fullerton founded?

The Fullerton post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Fullerton?

One place: the Carroll House Hotel (listed 1994).

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 Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.