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History · Pillsbury

Pillsbury’s post office opened in 1911, and 60% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1967 on and the census since 1920.

1911first post office
0on the National Register
60%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Andrew Filer from Seattle (ex-Minneapolis) · CC BY-SA 2.0
Quick answers

How Pillsbury began

When was Pillsbury founded?

1911

The Pillsbury post office opened in 1911, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 142 in 19202020 census: 12115 years
Founding year: the first Pillsbury post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Pillsbury’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 Pillsbury are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Pillsbury’s homes were built before 1938.Boom and bustPeaked at 260 in 1930; 12 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Pillsbury’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Pillsbury’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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The story so far

Pillsbury, in brief

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

Pillsbury is a city in Barnes County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 12 at the 2020 census, and was estimated at 12 in 2024.

Its first post office opened in 1911. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 12 in 2010, 12 in 2020.

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

People over time

Pillsbury, census by census

0100200192019401960198020002020Peak: 260

Peaked at 260 in 1930; 12 people lived here in 2020.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

Timeline

Pillsbury, 1911 to 1967

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1911Post officeThe Pillsbury post office opens
  3. 1930CensusPopulation peaks at 260
  4. 1967On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Pillsbury, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Pillsbury, North Dakota 6-10-20092009Pillsbury, North Dakota 6-10-2009NDMap-doton-Pillsbury2004NDMap-doton-Pillsbury
On the map

Pillsbury on the map, 1967 to 1985

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

Pillsbury on the 1967 USGS mapPillsbury on the 1985 USGS map1967Pillsbury 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 Pillsbury.

Questions about Pillsbury’s history

What year was Pillsbury founded?

The Pillsbury post office opened in 1911, 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 (2), 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.