Washington County Historical Society Collections
at the Robert & Nancy Goodman Research Center

To make a research appointment, please call
651-439-2298 or email information@wchsmn.org

Our Collections

WCHS’s collection covers more than 150 years of history and has been continually growing since our founding in 1934. The following resources and records are available to the public at the Warden’s Carriage House:

  • The Washington County Name Index – now over 180,000 entries.
  • Copies of registers for Fairview Cemetery, Stillwater, through the year 1906, and other cemetery indexes.
  • City directories for Stillwater, Bayport and Hudson, Wisconsin
  • File folders on county subjects, communities,  individuals and families
  • Printed histories from around the county and other historic books
  • Records of the Stillwater Territorial Prison and Stillwater Police Arrest Records
  • Stillwater telephone books
  • Stillwater birth and death records [1884-1940] – some years missing.
  • Bound copies of the Stillwater Post-Messenger, St. Croix Valley Press, and South Washington County Sun
  • County school records, histories and photographs
  • Government, business, military and fraternal records (including a large collection of Baytown & Grant Township records)
  • Plat maps and atlases of Washington County
  • St. Croix County, Wisconsin Territory tax assessments for 1847 and 1848 (covers area north and east of Mississippi River in what is now Minnesota)
  • More than 15,000 photographs of the area, including the original John Runk historical photograph collection of 435 images and photographs from the Stillwater Gazette, Country Messenger & Woodbury Bulletin newspapers.
  • Indexed scrapbooks

Researching in Person

The Robert & Nancy Goodman Research Center is currently located at the Washington County Heritage Center located at:

1862 South Greeley Street
Stillwater, MN 55082

An $8 research fee is assessed to non-members of WCHS researching in-person, with the first hour paid in advance. WCHS members may use the Robert & Nancy Goodman Research Center free of charge.

The research library has a photocopier that can both enlarge and reduce images. Copies are 25 cents a page. Reproductions of the society’s photographs can be arranged.

Researching by Mail

Individuals who cannot perform in person research may request it! The fee for research materials by mail $25 per hour, with the first hour paid in advance. Call 651-439-2298 or email information@wchsmn.org for more information.