Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Gem 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 · Gem Township

Gem Township’s post office opened in 1888, and 20% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Art Karl Farm.

1888first post office
1on the National Register
20%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Gem Township began

When was Gem Township founded?

1888

The Gem Township post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Gem (1888), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 217138 years
Founding year: the first Gem Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
On the National Register

1 historic place in Gem Township

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
6
each building in a district counts
first listed
1995
Art Karl Farm
Art Karl Farm
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Bungalow/Craftsman1
All 1 listings
Art Karl FarmBuilding · listed 1995

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, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Hamlets and corners on the map
Nahon
Gone or out of use
Gemlocale
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Gem Township
GermanScandinavia Lutheran

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.

Bath TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWest Hanson Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWarner Township2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Gem Township’s history

What year was Gem Township founded?

The Gem Township post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Gem Township?

One place: the Art Karl Farm (listed 1995).

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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.