Minor parties elected members of the US House in all
elections 1828 through 1944 (except for 1904 and
1908).
This history is not well known because so few
reference books include data about congressional
elections.  Lazy authors find it easier to just
regurgitate presidential election data.

See Kenneth C. Martis' Historical Atlas of US
Congressional Elections, which did meticulous work on
identifying the party affiliation of all members of
congress, starting with 1789.
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The presence of geographically compact parties
supports multiparty systems
in other counties that use single-member districts. 
These parties are often
organized along cultural, linguistic, religious, and
racial lines.  I've
sometimes mused that a viable third party in the
U.S. could come from
minority-majority districts, but for many practical
reasons I doubt that
will happen.  So, America does not have
geographically compact minor parties
that can legitimately contest single member,
plurality win districts.
Without overhauling the electoral system, minor
party candidates in the
United States are fated to fare poorly in elections.

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