Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the William L. Lords House. Its Register listing is the William L. Lords House. Below: 18 old photos and papers, maps from 1939 on, and the census since 1940.
The Clear Lake Township post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1911Sunset
1911West Bay
1911East Point
1911Storm on Clear Lake, Ind
1911Storm on Clear Lake, Ind
1911East side
1911East side
1911The Hazenhurst
1911The Hazenhurst
1911Third peninsula
1911East side
1911East side
1911The island
1911South shore
1911Interlaken, first peninsula
1911The Hazenhurst Pier
1911The Hazenhurst boat livery
1911Boat landing, first peninsulaFrom Wikipedia’s history of Clear Lake Township.
A post office was established at Clear Lake in 1870, and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1903. Clear Lake was incorporated as a town in 1933.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Clear Lake Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Clear Lake Township.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Clear Lake Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Grew from 65 people in 1940 to 354 in 2020, 5 times over.
9 censuses, 1940–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Clear Lake Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Clear Lake Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Clear Lake Township post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the William L. Lords House (listed 1983).
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 Library of Congress (18), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
