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History · Joliette Township

Joliette Township’s post office opened in 1879

Most of Joliette Township was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1961. Below: maps from 1972 on.

1879first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%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 Joliette Township began

When was Joliette Township founded?

1879

The Joliette Township post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Joliette (1879), McArthur (1904) and Fleece (1912), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 44147 years
Founding year: the first Joliette Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Joliette 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 Joliette Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Joliette Township, and 3 old place names are still on the map.Old housesHalf of Joliette Township’s homes were built before 1961.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Joliette Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Joliette Township’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
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Joliette
1879–1989
McArthur
1904–1919
Fleece
1912–1913
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
FleeceJolietteMcArthur
Gone or out of use
BowesmontlocaleJoliettelocale
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Joliette Township
JolietteMcarthur

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

The story so far

Joliette Township, in brief

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

Joliette is an unincorporated community located along Interstate 29 in Joliette Township in Pembina County in the U.S. state of North Dakota. It was established in 1879 as a rural post office. It was settled by French Canadians and named for Joliette, Quebec, the hometown of the town's first settler. the post office is no longer operating and shares the ZIP code 58271 with the city of Pembina. Local agribusinesses are served by a BNSF rail line that extends from Grand Forks; however, this line has been abandoned north of Joliette since 1980.

Its first post office opened in 1879. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 67 to 44 (-34%).

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

Timeline

Joliette Township, 1879 to 1989

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1879Post officeThe Joliette post office opens
  3. 1883Born hereR. G. Ferguson is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1904Post officeThe McArthur post office opens
  6. 1912Post officeThe Fleece post office opens
  7. 1913Post officeThe Fleece post office closes
  8. 1919Post officeThe McArthur post office closes
  9. 1972On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  10. 1989Post officeThe Joliette post office closes
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

Joliette Township on the map, 1972 to 1985

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

Joliette Township on the 1972 USGS mapJoliette Township on the 1985 USGS map1972Joliette 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 Joliette Township.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Carlisle TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLincoln TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPembina TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Joliette Township’s history

What year was Joliette Township founded?

The Joliette Township post office opened in 1879, 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 →
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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 Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.