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History · Bay Lake Township

Bay Lake Township’s post office opened in 1884

Most of Bay Lake Township was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1984. Below: maps from 1912 on.

1884first post office
0on the National Register
8%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Bay Lake Township began

When was Bay Lake Township founded?

1884

The Bay Lake Township post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Baylake (1884), Esdon (1898) and Katrine (1898), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 921142 years
Founding year: the first Bay Lake Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Bay Lake 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 Bay Lake Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Bay Lake Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Bay Lake Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bay Lake 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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Places that used to be

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

Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Baylake
1884–1909
Esdon
1898–1909
Katrine
1898–1909
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Bay LakeWhite Hawk
Gone or out of use
Baylake Post Officepost officeEsdon Post Officepost officeKatrine Post Officepost officeSethney Personal Airportairport
1cemetery inside Bay Lake Township
Bay Lake

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

The story

How Bay Lake Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Bay Lake Township.

Read it all →

Settling in the area begun in the 1870s, when a railroad began to be built from Duluth to the West Coast, despite the area being known prior to this date by some early trappers and fur traders. The settlers that did arrive in the area, despite the lack of infrastructures, mostly migrated due to the promises of the "Homestead Act of 1862" and its benefits.

A worker known as Robert Achibald was the first Withington settler. The town after its funding led to the development of the Sessabegamah Trail which reached as far south as to Bay Lake. There, in 1881, Robert Achibald’s brother, David Archibald, settled.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Bay Lake Township, 1884 to 1912

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1884Post officeThe Baylake post office opens
  3. 1898Post officeThe Esdon post office opens
  4. 1898Post officeThe Katrine post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1909Post officeThe Baylake post office closes
  7. 1909Post officeThe Esdon post office closes
  8. 1909Post officeThe Katrine post office closes
  9. 1912On 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

Bay Lake Township on the map, 1912 to 1973

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

Bay Lake Township on the 1912 USGS mapBay Lake Township on the 1973 USGS map1912Deerwood 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 Bay Lake Township.

Famous people

Famous people close to Bay Lake Township

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

See all →
Warren WilliamBroadway and Hollywood actor · b. 1894
Rick NolanAmerican politician · b. 1943
C. Elmer AndersonAmerican politician · b. 1912
Jonathan EdwardsAmerican singer-songwriter · b. 1946
Delos W. LovelaceAmerican novelist and biographer · b. 1894
C
Cole SmithAmerican ice hockey player · b. 1995
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Nokay Lake TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHazelton TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townDeerwood TownshipIts storyCGarrison Township2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Bay Lake Township’s history

What year was Bay Lake Township founded?

The Bay Lake Township post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 Wikipedia, 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.