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History · Arena Township

28% of Arena Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1953 on.

0on the National Register
28%homes built before 1940
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What stands out about Arena Township’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 Arena Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Arena Township’s homes were built before 1956.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Arena Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Arena Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story so far

Arena Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Arena Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Arena Township (pronounced like the word) is a township in Lac qui Parle County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 153 at the 2000 census. Arena Township was named after both the Town of Arena and Arena, Wisconsin, which it contains. The township's early pioneers came from this location.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 122 to 125 (+2%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Arena Township, 1880 to 1953

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1880Post officeThe Loken post office opens
  3. 1885Post officeThe Loken post office closes
  4. 20th century
  5. 1953On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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.
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On the map

Arena Township on the map, 1953 to 1985

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Arena Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Arena Township on the 1953 USGS mapArena Township on the 1971 USGS mapArena Township on the 1985 USGS map1953Bellingham sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Arena Township.

Famous people

Famous people close to Arena Township

Nobody well known was born in Arena Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
James Day HodgsonFormer U.S. Secretary of Labor; former U.S. Amb… · b. 1915
Jeff NordgaardAmerican basketball player · b. 1973
P
Phyllis GatesAmerican secretary and interior decorator, wife… · b. 1925
Carrie TollefsonAmerican middle distance runner · b. 1977
C
Charles E. PetersonAmerican architect · b. 1906
M
Michael HuntAmerican football player · b. 1956
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Another post office, Loken, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Haydenville
Gone or out of use
School Number 77schoolSchool Number 78schoolZion Churchchurch
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Arena Township
Frontenac LutheranLokkenZion

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Augusta TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPerry TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGarfield TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMadison TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Arena Township’s history

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
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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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) 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.