Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Thompson

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
CHistory
History · Thompson

Thompson’s post office opened in 1881, and 12% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 29% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1934 on, and the census since 1930.

1881first post office
0on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Thompson’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Thompson began

When was Thompson founded?

1881

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

First census: 273 in 19302020 census: 1,101145 years

How historic is Thompson?

C

More historic than 29% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Thompson post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Thompson’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Thompson is more historic than 29% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Thompson’s overall grade.
Founding era1881, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194011.5% of homes (±4.6) · typical ND town 7.2% · U.S. 8.4%B−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical ND town 2.8 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 29%
NewerOlder

North Dakota towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical North Dakota town has 2.8 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Thompson’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (22% of North Dakota towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.6 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Thompson’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Thompson’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Thompson’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewElevated view of Thompson, N.D., 1890s: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Thompson came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Thompson.

Read it all →

The first residents of the town were businessmen who had come to support the needs of new settlers to the area. The town was first called Norton because the first buildings of the town were adjacent to land owned by George Norton. However, when the railroad came in 1881, the name caused an issue, since there was already a nearby town of Norton in Minnesota.

Albert Thompson, co-owner of a general store with his brother Robert, was commissioned postmaster in January 1881. The name of the town was then changed to Thompson in honor of Albert Thompson.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Thompson, 1881 to 1987

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1881Post officeThe Thompson post office opens
  3. 1890In the archiveElevated view of Thompson, N.D., 1890s
  4. 20th century
  5. 1934On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1987Born hereGreg Brockman is born here
By decade

Thompson, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s1 item
Elevated view of Thompson, N.D., 1890s1890Elevated view of Thompson, N.D., 1890s
1900s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today3 recent
Ost Valle Bridge2009Ost Valle BridgeA letter from St Jude's Church2007A letter from St Jude's ChurchDocumentThompson, North Dakota2006Thompson, North Dakota
On the map

Thompson on the map, 1934 to 1971

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

Thompson on the 1934 USGS mapThompson on the 1971 USGS map1934Grand Forks 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 Thompson.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Elevated view of Thompson, N.D., 1890s
Retake this viewElevated view of Thompson, N.D., 1890s, 1890

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Thompson’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Thompson, census by census

02004006008001,0001,200194019601980200020201,101

Grew from 273 people in 1930 to 1,101 in 2020, 4 times over.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Walle Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAllendale TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Thompson’s history

What year was Thompson founded?

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

How does Thompson rank for history?

Thompson is more historic than 29% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

How old are the homes in Thompson?

12% of Thompson’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.6 points), against a typical 7.2% for a North Dakota town; the median home was built in 1978.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (4), Wikipedia, 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.