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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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Welcome to French ...

French is located in Otter Tail County<1>.

While we don't have a date for the founding of French, you might consider that their post office opened in 1884.

French is 1,110 feet [338 m] above sea level.<2>.

Time Zone: French lies in the Central Time Zone (CST/CDT) and observes daylight saving time

Area Code for French: 218

Communities Also Named French ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 10 communities that are also named French - they are located in Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana (2), Manitoba, New Mexico, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for French.

Communities near French ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near French.

  • Fergus Falls
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Wahpeton
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Wahpeton is located in Richland County (ND)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wahpeton
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 7,728 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wahpeton <3>
  • Breckenridge
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
  • Rothsay
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • Underwood
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
  • Dalton
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Elizabeth
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Wendell
    (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
  • Campbell
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Campbell is located in Wilkin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Campbell
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 152 people
  • Erhard
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around French. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for French.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of French. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around French.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around French. See our Newspapers Page for French.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for French ...

Looking for more information about French? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

While we are unaware of a Tourism page that is specific to French, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for French.

Adding French to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of French in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found (so far) for French was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<4>

From that list, the French post office opened in 1884. The French post office closed in 1906.

For more details, see References and Mentions for French.

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of Minnesota's counties, including Otter Tail, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>The elevation is an estimate for the area around French - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>A copy of the Blevins & Helbock Post Office list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/