# San Francisco Township *First county seat of Carver County, Minnesota; voters moved the seat to Chaska in 1856.* San Francisco Township is a place in Carver County, [[Minnesota]], and was the county's first county seat.[^1] Carver County was organized in March 1855. According to the [[Carver County Historical Society]]'s driving tour, voters moved the seat to [[Chaska]] the following year, in 1856.[^1] The *Chaska Herald* reported that Earl Olander, 90, was found beaten to death in the township on April 11, 2015.[^2] The project's record holds one at-issue entry on the township. That entry pairs the 1856 relocation, which the historical society's tour documents,[^1] with an anchor: the White House presidential action of March 2026, *Establishing the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud*.[^3] The record does not establish any connection between the 1856 vote and the 2026 action beyond the entry's citation of it. ## What San Francisco Township was the first seat of Carver County. The county was "named in honor of the explorer, Jonathan Carver", after [[Jonathan Carver]].[^1] The tour states that "voters moved it to Chaska in 1856."[^1] ## When - **February 20, 1855 / March 1855:** Carver County was established, then organized in March 1855, with San Francisco Township as its first county seat.[^1] - **1856:** Voters moved the county seat from San Francisco Township to Chaska.[^1] - **April 11, 2015:** Earl Olander, 90, was found beaten to death in San Francisco Township, according to the *Chaska Herald*.[^2] ## Where San Francisco Township lies in Carver County, Minnesota. The historical society's tour gives the county's area as 376 square miles.[^1] The *Chaska Herald* locates the 2015 death of Earl Olander in the township.[^2] ## In the at-issue record The project's at-issue entry AI-Carver-040 lists one source, from the Carver County Historical Society. The relocation it rests on, a move of the seat to Chaska by voters in 1856, is documented in the society's driving tour.[^1] The entry adds its own characterization of that vote. It calls the move the last recorded instance of a Carver County structural question being settled by contested vote at the county level in the founding era, and it notes that the question took one year. The cited sources do not establish that characterization. The entry's anchor is the March 2026 White House action establishing a task force to eliminate fraud.[^3] ## Notes [^1]: Carver County Historical Society, *Carver County Driving Tour* (undated) — Carver County established February 20 and organized March 1855; 376 square miles; "named in honor of the explorer, Jonathan Carver"; San Francisco Township the first county seat; "voters moved it to Chaska in 1856." https://www.carvercountyhistoricalsociety.org/pdfs/CarverCountyDrivingTour.pdf [^2]: *Chaska Herald* (Southwest News Media), *Justice for Earl* (date not stated in pack) — Earl Olander, 90, found beaten to death in San Francisco Township, April 11, 2015. https://swnewsmedia.com/chaska_herald/justice-for-earl/article_e10f14fc-e92c-5625-8ec2-bb7b3be9c7e6.html [^3]: The White House, *Establishing the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud* (March 2026) — presidential action cited as the anchor of at-issue entry AI-Carver-040. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/03/establishing-the-task-force-to-eliminate-fraud/