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History · Central Lake

Central Lake’s post office opened in 1869, and 22% of its homes were built before 1940

1869first post office
0on the National Register
22%homes built before 1940
1famous people
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Quick answers

How Central Lake began

When was Central Lake founded?

1869

The Central Lake post office opened in 1869, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 960157 years
Founding year: the first Central Lake post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Central Lake’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Central Lake are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
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The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Central Lake’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
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0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Central Lake came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Central Lake.

Read it all →

Central Lake was given a post office in 1869. James M. Wadsworth started a store here in 1872. The village was platted in 1883. The Chicago and Western Railroad put a depot in Central Lake in 1892. It was incorporated as a village in 1895.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Central Lake, decade by decade

Today5 recent
Untitled photo2021Untitled photoUntitled photo2021Untitled photoUntitled photo2021Untitled photoCentral Lake (village), MI location2019Central Lake (village), MI locationCentral Lake High School2015Central Lake High School

Questions about Central Lake’s history

What year was Central Lake founded?

The Central Lake post office opened in 1869, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

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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 Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikipedia and Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.