Because of its location along the St. Croix River, May Township has a history going back to the earliest recorded times in Minnesota. This important waterway was a highway for Indians, explorers and fur traders passing from Lake Superior to the Mississippi River. It later became the focus of the first European-Americans settlers eager to develop its waterpower.
May township is included in the "Golden Triangle" formed by the St. Croix and Mississippi Rivers. This land was part of French North America, and was visited in turn by French fur traders or coureurs du bois, Jesuit and Franciscan priests, and French explorers. One of the earliest of these was Sieur DuLuth, who passed down the St. Croix River valley from Fond du Lac in 1680. French dominion ended in 1763, when the land east of the Mississippi became part of British America. The area which became known as the Northwest Territory passed from the British to the United States in 1783. But both British and Americans traded with the Dakota on the St. Croix River until after the War of 1812, when the Canadians were finally driven out.
In 1837 the Dakota and Ojibwe signed treaties ceding the triangle of land between the rivers to the U. S. Government, making this the first section of land in Minnesota open to settlement; the rest of Minnesota remained Indian Territory until 1851. Even before the treaties were ratified, settlers and lumbermen began to pour in. Sawmills were opened at the Falls of St. Croix and Marine in 1839 and at Arcola in 1847, and thus began the lumber boom. Early settlers in Marine Township (the name until 1893) were lumbermen originally from the eastern states, chiefly New York, Pennsylvania and New England. By the mid-1850s most of the immigrants were from the Scandinavian countries, mainly Sweden. Other early immigrants were Irish, German, English and Canadian.
May township was organized in 1893 out of the southern part of Marine. A year later the Town Hall was built and the first supervisors were elected. The first supervisors of the township were John Daly, Chairman, George Hinds and Nels E. Nelson; clerk, W.J. Smith; treasurer, C.A. Rutherford.
This first government was credited with providing the community with a "conservative and economical management of affairs." Along with various road and bridge improvements, the first supervisors made an attempt to organize a village along the west shoe of Lake Carnelian in hopes of developing a prosperous summer resort.
One of the town's early settlers was an English immigrant who eventually became one of the more prosperous farmers of the northwest, at one time owning 2,000 acres. It was after this man, Morgan May that the township was named.
May was born in July 1818 in Reading, England the youngest child of a large wealthy family. His father Daniel owned a prosperous mill just 30 miles south of London. In 1851, just after the death of his father, Morgan came to the United States and settled New Orleans. In 1855 he came to Minnesota and purchased 400 acres of land east of Terrapin Lake. A couple years later his wife joined him in this new land.
May's wife, Louise, died in the winter of 1857 and Morgan again married to Catherine McKenzie in 1870. Soon, May had well over 2,000 acres of land. This large farmstead was called "Emerald Grove." In 1885 May left for California for the health of his wife. He came back to his farm and in February 1902, Morgan May died. He was buried in the Marine cemetery - in what was said to be a copper covered casket.
In 1893 May Township had three general stores, four public schools, a blacksmith shop, an elevator, a feedmill, and two churches. The Minnesota census of 1905 shows the township with a population of 761.
May Township remained a stable rural area with a promising resort and recreation business and a relatively static population through 1950. During the 1950s, expansion of the transportation network in the metropolitan area began the process of suburbanizing the township. A boom in residential development has caused the population to more than triple since 1960. At present, land in May Township is a mixture of residential use, agricultural use, and public open space.