Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Walhalla Township

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
–Not graded
History · Walhalla Township

Walhalla Township dates to 1845, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Walhalla Township was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1985. Its Register listing is the Gingras House and Trading Post. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1918 on, and the census since 1880.

1845founded
1on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Walhalla Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Walhalla Township began

When was Walhalla Township founded?

1845

Walhalla Township dates its founding to 1845 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1880.

First census: 67 in 18802020 census: 105181 years
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1880.The full story ↓

What stands out about Walhalla 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 writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,471 in 1970; 893 people lived here in 2020.On the map since 19184 editions of the USGS map, 1918 to 1979. Watch Walhalla Township change.Deep rootsEstablished in 1845: 181 years of Walhalla Township.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Walhalla Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewRoller mill of the Walhalla Milling Com…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Walhalla Township, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,4001,60018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,471

Peaked at 1,471 in 1970; 893 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

On the map

Walhalla Township on the map, 1918 to 1979

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

Walhalla Township on the 1918 USGS mapWalhalla Township on the 1943 USGS mapWalhalla Township on the 1964 USGS mapWalhalla Township on the 1979 USGS map1918Walhalla 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 Walhalla Township.

The story

How Walhalla Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Walhalla Township.

Read it all →

Walhalla was established in 1845. The city was originally named St. Joseph (St. Jo) after the local Catholic mission, Walhalla is the second oldest town in North Dakota, its history bound up in the fur trade of the Red River Valley. One mile northeast of town was the North West Company fur trading post, established in 1797 by British-Canadian surveyor and cartographer David Thompson (1770–1857), and in 1801 moved to a site one mile east of Walhalla, where a reconstructed building is now located. Also about one mile northeast of Walhalla is the Gingras Trading Post, established in the 1840s by the Métis legislator and businessman Antoine Blanc Gingras (1821–1877).

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Walhalla Township, 1845 to 1970

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1845
    FoundingWalhalla Township is established
  3. 1870In the archiveRoller mill of the Walhalla Milling Company
  4. 1880Post officeThe Ernest post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1900In the archiveThe mill dam at Walhalla, N.D
  7. 1904Post officeThe Ernest post office closes
  8. 1918On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 1970CensusPopulation peaks at 1,471
By decade

Walhalla Township, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1870s–1900s2 items
Roller mill of the Walhalla Milling Company1870Roller mill of the Walhalla Milling CompanyThe mill dam at Walhalla, N.D1900The mill dam at Walhalla, N.D
1910s–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
Today4 recent
Leyden, North Dakota2009Leyden, North DakotaLeyden, North Dakota2009Leyden, North DakotaLeyden, North Dakota2009Leyden, North DakotaWalhalla Trading Post2007Walhalla Trading Post
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.

Roller mill of the Walhalla Milling Company
Retake this viewRoller mill of the Walhalla Milling Company, 1870

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Walhalla Township

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1975
Gingras House and Trading Post
Gingras House and Trading Post
Buildings
Gingras House and Trading PostBuilding

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Another post office, Ernest, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Gone or out of use
Ernestlocale

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Fremont TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLa Moure TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSt. Joseph Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Walhalla Township’s history

What year was Walhalla Township founded?

In 1845, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Walhalla Township’s post office opened in 1880, and the census of 1880 counted 67 people here.

What is on the National Register in Walhalla Township?

One place: the Gingras House and Trading Post (listed 1975).

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 (4), the Library of Congress (2), 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.