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–Not graded
History · Crystal Bay Township

19% of Crystal Bay Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1955 on.

0on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Crystal Bay 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 Crystal Bay Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Crystal Bay Township, and 4 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Crystal Bay Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

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

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

Finland
1915–today
Sawbill Landing
1954–1963
19101970today
Hamlets and corners on the map
FinlandManitou JunctionMapleSawbill Landing
Gone or out of use
Finland Air Force StationmilitarySawbill Landing Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Crystal Bay Township
Finland Crystal Bay

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

The story so far

Crystal Bay Township, in brief

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

Crystal Bay Township is a township in Lake County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 435 at the 2020 census. It contains part of the census-designated place of Finland. Crystal Bay Township was organized in 1904, and named after Crystal Bay.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 472 to 435 (-8%).

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

Timeline

Crystal Bay Township, 1915 to 1963

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1915Post officeThe Finland post office opens
  3. 1954Post officeThe Sawbill Landing post office opens
  4. 1955On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1963Post officeThe Sawbill Landing post office closes
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

Crystal Bay Township on the map, 1955 to 1982

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

Crystal Bay Township on the 1955 USGS mapCrystal Bay Township on the 1982 USGS map1955Cramer 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 Crystal Bay Township.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Stony River TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBeaver Bay Township3 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townFall Lake Township2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townFinlandIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Crystal Bay 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.