Shell City is a ghost town

Ghost town

A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...

 in section 2 of Shell River Township

Shell River Township, Minnesota

Shell River Township is a township in Wadena County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 276 at the 2000 census. The township was named for the Shell River, which flows through it; the river was named for abundant clam and mussel shells found along its banks.-Geography:According to the...

 in Wadena County

Wadena County, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 13,713 people, 5,426 households, and 3,608 families residing in the county. The population density was 26 people per square mile . There were 6,334 housing units at an average density of 12 per square mile...

, Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

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History

The village of Shell City was established by William E. Kindred as the Kindred post office in 1879. The townsite was then sold to Francis M. Yoder and Sewall Chandler in 1881 and the name was changed to Shell City in 1882. The town failed to develop as hoped, and the post office was discontinued in 1901.