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History · Taopi

Taopi’s history is
mostly unwritten

The public archives hold no old photos of Taopi. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.

0old images & papers
3recent photos

The story

from WikipediaRead it all ↗

The name of the village is derived from Taopi, the native chief who befriended the settlers after the New Ulm massacre. It was platted in 1875 by the Taopi Farming Company in the name of John W. Wood. The first lot was bought by James Olberg, and J. Martz opened a furniture store there before moving the operation to Le Roy. Taopi had the largest steam-powered flour mill in southern Minnesota; it could process 300,000 bushels of wheat each year.

The village suffered significant damage from an EF2 tornado on April 12, 2022, part of the April 2022 North American storm complex. Two noncritical injuries were reported.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Be one of the first

Start Taopi’s collection

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

0 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
By decade

Taopi, decade by decade

Before
2000
No old photos in the archives yetWeddings 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 photos
Taopi, MinnesotaCommonsTaopi, Minnesota2023EF2 damage Taopi, Minnesota 2022CommonsEF2 damage Taopi, Minnesota 20222022MNMap-doton-TaopiCommonsMNMap-doton-Taopi2005
National Register of Historic Places

Nothing in Taopi is on the National Register yet

That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Taopi has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is First National Bank of Adams in Adams, 4 miles away.

Taopi and the nearest listed places

Dashed line = Taopi. Tap a dot.
First National Bank of AdamsFreund StoreLeRoy Public LibraryFirst State Bank of LeRoyUnion Presbyterian ChurchBooth Post No. 130-Grand Army of the Republic Hall

Closest to Taopi

First National Bank of AdamsAdams · Building4miFreund StoreAdams · Building7.4miLeRoy Public LibraryLe Roy · Classical Revival7.5miFirst State Bank of LeRoyLe Roy · Building7.6miUnion Presbyterian ChurchStacyville · Gothic10.1mi

How a place gets listed

1Talk to the stateEvery nomination goes through the State Historic Preservation Office. Owners, towns and historical societies can start one.
2Try a local or state list firstMany states keep their own register with a shorter form, a common first step for old barns, halls and schoolhouses.
3Write it upA nomination covers the history, photos and a map. First National Bank of Adams’s page links to a real one.
Know an old place in Taopi?A mill, a schoolhouse, a cellar hole, a church: add a photo of it to Taopi’s story, or a memory of it.
📷 Add a photo of an old place
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places · photos from Wikimedia Commons

Then & now

When neighbors add old photos, retakes from the same spot appear here side by side.

Stories next door

nearby towns’ history
📜 Lodi📜 Adams📜 Clayton📜 Adams

From Wikimedia Commons (3). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.

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Boundary source: https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD/MapServer/18 · 2025-01-01
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