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–Not graded
History · Reynolds

Reynolds’ post office opened in 1881, and 36% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1971 on and the census since 1900.

1881first post office
0on the National Register
36%homes built before 1940
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Reynolds began

When was Reynolds founded?

1881

The Reynolds post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 389 in 19002020 census: 277145 years
Founding year: the first Reynolds post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Reynolds’ 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 Reynolds are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Reynolds’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Reynolds’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

Reynolds, in brief

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

Reynolds is a city in Grand Forks and Traill counties in the State of North Dakota. It is part of the Grand Forks, ND-MN Metropolitan Statistical Area or "Greater Grand Forks". The population was 277 at the 2020 census. Reynolds, named for pioneer settler Dr. Henry Reynolds, was founded in 1881.

Its first post office opened in 1881. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 301 to 277 (-8%).

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

Timeline

Reynolds, 1881 to 1971

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1881Post officeThe Reynolds post office opens
  3. 1894Born hereRudolph Hjalmar Gjelsness is born here
  4. 1899Born hereReuben Harold Tweten is born here
  5. 20th century
  6. 1971On 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

Reynolds on the map, 1971 to 1985

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

Reynolds on the 1971 USGS mapReynolds on the 1985 USGS map1971Reynolds 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 Reynolds.

People over time

Reynolds, census by census

01002003004001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 412

Between 236 and 412 people in every census since 1900.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Reynolds

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Rudolph Hjalmar GjelsnessAmerican librarian and literary translator · b. 1894
R
Reuben Harold TwetenAmerican politician – Minnesota -House 1947-56 … · b. 1899
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Buxton TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMichigan TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAmericus TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Reynolds’ history

What year was Reynolds founded?

The Reynolds post office opened in 1881, 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, 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.