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History · Dead Lake Township

Half of Dead Lake Township’s homes were built after 1982

Most of Dead Lake Township was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. Below: maps from 1912 on.

0on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Dead 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 Dead Lake Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Dead Lake Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Dead Lake Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Dead 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 and places now gone

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

Redington
1899–1906
Basswood
1901–1906
18901960today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Basswood
Gone or out of use
Basswood Post Officepost officeRedington Post Officepost officeSchool Number 239schoolSchool Number 240schoolSchool Number 256school

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

The story so far

Dead Lake Township, in brief

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

Dead Lake Township is a township in Otter Tail County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 535 at the 2020 census. Dead Lake Township was organized in 1897, and named for a local lake commemorating a massacre of the Ojibwe Indians.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 494 to 535 (+8%).

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

Timeline

Dead Lake Township, 1899 to 1912

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1899Post officeThe Redington post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1901Post officeThe Basswood post office opens
  5. 1906Post officeThe Redington post office closes
  6. 1906Post officeThe Basswood post office closes
  7. 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

Dead Lake Township on the map, 1912 to 1973

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

Dead Lake Township on the 1912 USGS mapDead Lake Township on the 1973 USGS map1912Battle Lake 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 Dead Lake Township.

Famous people

Famous people close to Dead Lake Township

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

See all →
E
Emery FletcherAmerican religious leader · b. 1868
E
Erle WhitingAmerican Latter Day Saints leader · b. 1876
R
Rupert FletcherAmerican religious leader · b. 1896
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Rush Lake TownshipIts storyC−Edna TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAmor TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townStar Lake TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Dead Lake 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.