The Volga post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Modina (1878) and Renshaw (1879), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 287 in 18802020 census: 2,113147 years
How historic is Volga?
B
More historic than 59% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Volga post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Volga’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Volga is more historic than 59% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Volga’s overall grade.
South Dakota towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical South Dakota town has 37.3 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Volga’s 16.6 sits near the middle of its state (52% of South Dakota towns have fewer) while its 4 listings outnumber those of 68% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.4 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 Volga’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Volga’s post office has been open since 1879. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Modina
1878–1879
Renshaw
1879–1879
Volga
1879–today
18701950today
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Every building
Volga, building by building, 1893–1911
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1893Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Volga was founded by the Western Town Lot Company on December 27, 1879, by Col. Arthur Jacoby, who had platted the area in September of that year. It was originally named "Bandy Town" after the Bandy family, early settlers there. In December 1879, the railroad assigned it the name "Volga", either after the Volga River in Russia, or the town (and river) of Volga, Iowa. From November 1879 to May 1880, Volga was at the end of the railroad, which stimulated the settlement's growth. By 1881, there were around 400 inhabitants. By the next year, Volga had five general stores and two hardware stores, as well as two hotels and three lumber yards. By sometime in the early 1880s, there were four hotels, chief of which was the Farrington. The lumber yard owned by the Laird, Norton Company was closed in 1884.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Volga, census by census
Grew from 287 people in 1880 to 2,113 in 2020, 7 times over.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Volga’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about Volga’s history
What year was Volga founded?
The Volga post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Volga rank for history?
Volga is more historic than 59% 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.
What is on the National Register in Volga?
4 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Henry-Martinson House (listed 1977, the first).
How old are the homes in Volga?
19% of Volga’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.4 points), against a typical 10% for a South Dakota town; the median home was built in 1979.
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), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2007
2007
2007
2004
