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History · St. Thomas

St. Thomas’ post office opened in 1881, and 25% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the O'Connor House. Below: maps from 1939 on and the census since 1890.

1881first post office
1on the National Register
25%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Andrew Filer from Seattle (ex-Minneapolis) · CC BY-SA 2.0
Quick answers

How St. Thomas began

When was St. Thomas founded?

1881

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

First census: 477 in 18902020 census: 323145 years
Founding year: the first St. Thomas post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about St. Thomas’ 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 St. Thomas are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 661 in 1900; 323 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of St. Thomas’ homes were built before 1958.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start St. Thomas’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how St. Thomas’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
People over time

St. Thomas, census by census

01002003004005006007001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 661

Peaked at 661 in 1900; 323 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

The story

How St. Thomas came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of St. Thomas.

Read it all →

St. Thomas was laid out in 1881. The city was named after St. Thomas, Ontario.

A U.S. post office has been in operation at St. Thomas since 1881 and is open weekdays.

The St. Thomas Public School was established in 1882. St. Thomas Elementary School and St. Thomas High School offered classes for pre-kindergarten through 12th grade through the 2020-21 school year. The three-person class of 2021 was the last class to graduate from St. Thomas Public School. Pre-K-12th grade students from St. Thomas now attend school in Grafton, ND (in the newly consolidated Grafton School District #18).

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

St. Thomas, 1881 to 1939

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1881Post officeThe Saint Thomas post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1900CensusPopulation peaks at 661
  5. 1939On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

St. Thomas, decade by decade

Today18 recent
St Thomas, North Dakota2009St Thomas, North DakotaSt Thomas, North Dakota2009St Thomas, North DakotaSt Thomas, North Dakota2009St Thomas, North DakotaSt Thomas, North Dakota2009St Thomas, North DakotaSt Thomas, North Dakota2009St Thomas, North DakotaSt Thomas, North Dakota2009St Thomas, North DakotaSt Thomas, North Dakota2009St Thomas, North DakotaSt Thomas, North Dakota2009St Thomas, North DakotaSt Thomas, North Dakota2009St Thomas, North DakotaSt Thomas, North Dakota2009St Thomas, North DakotaSt Thomas, North Dakota2009St Thomas, North DakotaSt Thomas, North Dakota2009St Thomas, North DakotaSt Thomas, North Dakota2009St Thomas, North DakotaSt Thomas, North Dakota2009St Thomas, North DakotaSt. Thomas, North Dakota2006St. Thomas, North DakotaSt. Thomas, North Dakota2006St. Thomas, North DakotaSt. Thomas, North Dakota2006St. Thomas, North DakotaNDMap-doton-StThomas2004NDMap-doton-StThomas
On the map

St. Thomas on the map, 1939 to 1941

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

St. Thomas on the 1939 USGS mapSt. Thomas on the 1941 USGS map1939Glasston 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 St. Thomas.

On the National Register

1 historic place in St. Thomas

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1980
O'Connor House
O'Connor House
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Queen Anne1
All 1 listings
O'Connor HouseBuilding · listed 1980

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

Places that used to be

Old corners and burying grounds

Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Saint Thomas
1cemetery inside St. Thomas
Saint Thomas City

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

Questions about St. Thomas’ history

What year was St. Thomas founded?

The St. Thomas post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in St. Thomas?

One place: the O'Connor House (listed 1980).

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 (18), 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.