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History · Gilstrap Township

Gilstrap Township’s post office opened in 1907

Below: maps from 1974 on.

1907first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Gilstrap Township began

When was Gilstrap Township founded?

1907

The Gilstrap Township post office opened in 1907, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Gilstrap (1907) and Petrel (1908), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 22119 years
Founding year: the first Gilstrap Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Gilstrap 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 Gilstrap Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Gilstrap Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Gilstrap Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Gilstrap 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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Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Gilstrap
1907–1909
Petrel
1908–1939
19001960today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Petrel
1cemetery inside Gilstrap Township
Petrel

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

The story so far

Gilstrap Township, in brief

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

Gilstrap Township is a township in Adams County, North Dakota, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population was 20. Gilstrap Township has one unincorporated community, Petrel.

Its first post office opened in 1907. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 20 to 22 (+10%).

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

Timeline

Gilstrap Township, 1907 to 1974

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1907Post officeThe Gilstrap post office opens
  3. 1908Post officeThe Petrel post office opens
  4. 1909Post officeThe Gilstrap post office closes
  5. 1939Post officeThe Petrel post office closes
  6. 1974On 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.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Gilstrap Township on the map, 1974 to 1998

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

Gilstrap Township on the 1974 USGS mapGilstrap Township on the 1984 USGS mapGilstrap Township on the 1998 USGS map1974White Butte 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 Gilstrap Township.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Clermont TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Gilstrap Township’s history

What year was Gilstrap Township founded?

The Gilstrap Township post office opened in 1907, 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 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.