The story
Read it all →How Fifty Lakes came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Fifty Lakes.
Fifty Lakes was incorporated in May 1949. Its post office began in 1926.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Fifty Lakes
Fifty Lakes’ post office opened in 1926
Most of Fifty Lakes was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1978. Below: maps from 1960 on and the census since 1960.
1926first post office
0on the National Register
4%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Fifty Lakes began
When was Fifty Lakes founded?
1926
The Fifty Lakes post office opened in 1926, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 143 in 19602020 census: 443100 years
Founding year: the first Fifty Lakes post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Fifty Lakes’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Fifty Lakes’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Fifty Lakes’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.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.
Add from your albumOn the map
Fifty Lakes on the map, 1960 to 1994
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Fifty Lakes. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1960Cross Lake sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Fifty Lakes.
People over time
Fifty Lakes, census by census
Grew from 143 people in 1960 to 443 in 2020, 3 times over.
7 censuses, 1960–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Fifty Lakes’ Wikipedia page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Fifty Lakes
Nobody well known was born in Fifty Lakes itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Manhattan BeachIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townEmilyIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townTimothy TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCrosslakeIts storyC−Trelipe TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town
Questions about Fifty Lakes’ history
What year was Fifty Lakes founded?
The Fifty Lakes post office opened in 1926, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.