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History · Bear Creek Township

Half of Bear Creek Township’s homes were built after 1996

Most of Bear Creek Township was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1996. Below: maps from 1985 on.

0on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
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What stands out about Bear Creek 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 Bear Creek Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Bear Creek Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bear Creek 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

Bear Creek Township, in brief

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

Bear Creek Township is a township in Clearwater County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 112 at the 2020 census. This township took its name from Bear Creek.

Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 111 in 2010, 112 in 2020.

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

Timeline

Bear Creek Township, 1898 to 1985

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1898Post officeThe Alida post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1945Post officeThe Alida post office closes
  5. 1985On 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

Bear Creek Township on the map in 1985

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bear Creek Township.

Bear Creek Township on the 1985 USGS map1985Lake Itasca sheet · 1:100,000

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

Places that used to be

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

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

Hamlets and corners on the map
AlidaCoffee Pot Landing
Gone or out of use
Alida Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Bear Creek Township
Alida

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.

Fern TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMinerva TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townItasca TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMoose Creek TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Bear Creek 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.