The story
Read it all →How Wall Lake came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Wall Lake.
Wall Lake was platted in 1877. The city took its name from nearby Wall Lake.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Wall Lake
Wall Lake’s post office opened in 1877, and 27% of its homes were built before 1940
Its Register listing is the Chicago and North Western Passenger Depot. Below: old-book passages.
1877first post office
1on the National Register
27%homes built before 1940
2famous people
Quick answers
How Wall Lake began
When was Wall Lake founded?
1877
The Wall Lake post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name.
2020 census: 755149 years
Founding year: the first Wall Lake post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Wall Lake’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Wall Lake’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Wall Lake’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.From the old history books
What they wrote about Wall Lake in 1914
Passages that mention Wall Lake, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Sac County, Iowa1914 · page 247Read the page →
Read the text
Wall Lake has long since been known as the greatest railroad center in this section of the state. The Northwestern system has branches extending to Carroll, Denison, Mondamin, Onawa, Sioux City via Sac Cit}', another to Jewell Junction. The Illinois Central has a station on its Fort Dodge & Omaha line, a mile from Wall Lake town, giving good connections to the Twin Cities and Dubucjue, as well as Omaha.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Sac County, Iowa1914Read the page →
Read the text
munications. About August, 1877, Judge Duffie wrote E. P. Hull, general manager of the Maple River Railroad Company, telling him that Sac City wanted a railroad and asked him if he could do anything to help us build one to Wall Lake. The reply led to the formation of the Sac City & Wall Lake Railroad Company in September, 1877, to build a road between those two points. Judge Dufhe was elected president and a five per cent, tax was voted in aid of the road in Jackson township as well as in Cedar township, but defeated in Coon Valley and Wall Lake townships.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Wall Lake, 1877 to 1927
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1877Post officeThe Wall Lake post office opens
- 20th century
- 1922
Born hereAdam Williams is born here - 1927
Born hereAndy Williams is born here
By decade
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your albumOn the National Register
1 historic place in Wall Lake
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2003
Chicago and North Western Passenger Depot
Buildings
Architectural styles listings
Chicago and North Western "Number One" Standard Plan Depot1
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Famous people
See all →2 famous people were born in Wall Lake
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Questions about Wall Lake’s history
What year was Wall Lake founded?
The Wall Lake post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What is on the National Register in Wall Lake?
One place: the Chicago and North Western Passenger Depot (listed 2003).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
Sources
Where this page comes from
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.