The story
Read it all →How Elbow Lake came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Elbow Lake.
Elbow Lake was platted in 1886. The city took its name from nearby Elbow Lake.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
B+History
History · Elbow Lake
Elbow Lake’s post office opened in 1873, and 24% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 70% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Grant County Courthouse and the Scofield, Anna J. Memorial Auditorium and Harold E. Thorson Memorial Library. Its Register listings are the Grant County Courthouse and the Scofield, Anna J. Memorial Auditorium and Harold E. Thorson Memorial Library. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1896 on, and the census since 1890.
1873first post office
2on the National Register
24%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Quick answers
How Elbow Lake began
When was Elbow Lake founded?
1873
The Elbow Lake post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 267 in 18902020 census: 1,276153 years
How historic is Elbow Lake?
B+
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 70% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Elbow Lake post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Elbow Lake’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Elbow Lake is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Elbow Lake’s overall grade.
Founding era1873, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194024.4% of homes (±4.6) · typical MN town 8.1% · U.S. 8.4%A−National Register2 listings, 15.4 per 10,000 residents · typical MN town 2.1 · U.S. 2.4B+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 70%
NewerOlder
Minnesota towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Minnesota town has 2.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Elbow Lake’s 15.4 sits above most of its state (81% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.6 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Elbow Lake’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Elbow Lake’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Elbow Lake’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Every building
Elbow Lake, building by building, 1896–1915
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1896Sheet 1 of 1Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Elbow Lake, 1873 to 1967
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
By decade
Elbow Lake, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1970s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your albumToday17 recent
2022Post Office
2022Grant County Office Building
2022Elbow Lake, Minnesota 05
2022Elbow Lake, Minnesota 04
2022Elbow Lake, Minnesota 03
2022Elbow Lake, Minnesota 02
2022Elbow Lake, Minnesota 01
2022Elbow Lake Fire Department
2022Elbow Lake Baptist Church
2022Eagle Bank
2022Christ Lutheran
2022Bethlehem West Elbow Lake Lutheran Church
2009The aliens have landed
2009Silos in the dark
2009Hurtling through the night
2009Elbow Lake, Minnesota, 7 August 2009
2005MNMap-doton-Elbow Lake (Grant County)On the map
Elbow Lake on the map, 1911 to 1973
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Elbow Lake. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1911Barrett sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Elbow Lake.
On the National Register
2 historic places in Elbow Lake
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1985
Grant County Courthouse
Buildings
Architectural styles listings
Beaux Arts1
Renaissance1
Grant County CourthouseBeaux Arts
Scofield, Anna J. Memorial Auditorium and Harold E. Thorson Memorial LibraryBuilding
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Elbow Lake, census by census
Between 267 and 1,521 people in every census since 1890.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Elbow Lake’s Wikipedia page.
Places that used to be
Old corners and burying grounds
Elbow Lake’s post office has been open since 1873.
Hamlets and corners on the map
Viking Estates Mobile Home Park
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Elbow Lake
NessSaint Loretto Catholic
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Elbow Lake’s history
What year was Elbow Lake founded?
The Elbow Lake post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Elbow Lake rank for history?
Elbow Lake is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Elbow Lake?
Two places: the Grant County Courthouse (listed 1985) and the Scofield, Anna J. Memorial Auditorium and Harold E. Thorson Memorial Library (2015).
How old are the homes in Elbow Lake?
24% of Elbow Lake’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.6 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1958.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (18), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.