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–Not graded
History · Jump River

Jump River’s post office opened in 1909

Most of Jump River was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1972. Below: maps from 1971 on.

1909first post office
0on the National Register
10%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Jump River began

When was Jump River founded?

1909

The Jump River post office opened in 1909, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 275117 years
Founding year: the first Jump River post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Jump River’s 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 Jump River are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
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Start Jump River’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Jump River came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Jump River.

Read it all →

The origin of the river's name is the source of minor local controversy. Some say that the name comes from the jumping water in the many rapids which mark nearly the upper half of its course. Others maintain that the river was so-named because a 19th-century forest fire jumped the river. Still others suggest that log drivers named it for the way the water level "jumps" up and down rapidly after rains and thaws. Its name in Ojibwe does not shed light on its present name either, since the Ojibwa call this stream Manidoons-ziibi ("Little Spirit River").

Indians lived along the Jump in the early years, growing little plots of crops on the river bottoms.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Jump River, 1909 to 1971

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1909Post officeThe Jump River post office opens
  3. 1957Post officeThe Jump River post office closes
  4. 1971On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Jump River on the map, 1971 to 1980

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

Jump River on the 1971 USGS mapJump River on the 1980 USGS map1971Jump River sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Jump River.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Jump River had its own post office from 1909 to 1957.

Jump River
1909–1957
19001960today
Gone or out of use
Wood Prairie SchoolschoolWoodland Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Jump River
Mount Nebo

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.

McKinley1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWestboro1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townClevelandIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHawkinsIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPershingIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Jump River’s history

What year was Jump River founded?

The Jump River post office opened in 1909, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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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 Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.