Most of Hoyt Lakes was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1956. Its Register listing is the Longyear, E. J., First Diamond Drill Site. Its Register listing is the Longyear, E. J., First Diamond Drill Site. Below: maps from 1949 on and the census since 1960.
The Hoyt Lakes post office opened in 1955, the earliest record of the town by name. Five smaller post offices, Hinsdale (1887), Mesaba (1889) and Masaba (1892), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 3,186 in 19602020 census: 2,02071 years
How historic is Hoyt Lakes?
D
More historic than 11% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Hoyt Lakes post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Hoyt Lakes’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hoyt Lakes is more historic than 11% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Hoyt Lakes’ overall grade.
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 Hoyt Lakes’ 4.8 sits near the middle of its state (62% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D− to C−. The pre-1940 share (±1.0 points) is firm at this size. 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 Hoyt Lakes’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone
Hoyt Lakes’s post office has been open since 1955. Five other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Hinsdale
1887–1888
Mesaba
1889–1943
Masaba
1892–1899
Allen
1899–1958
Holter
1908–1911
Hoyt Lakes
1955–today
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
AllenColbyHinsdaleMesabaOld MesabaWyman
Gone or out of use
Allen Post Officepost officeAllen StationlocaleErie Mine Number Two PitmineHinsdale Post Officepost officeHolter Post Officepost officeKnox MinemineMesaba Post Officepost officeWentworth Minemine
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Start Hoyt Lakes’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Hoyt Lakes’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Hoyt Lakes yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Hoyt Lakes is a city in Saint Louis County, Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, Hoyt Lakes had a population of 2,020. Hoyt Lakes was created in 1955 to serve the taconite mine that were operational 1956 - 2008. Ore was transported to Taconite Harbor by the Cliffs Erie Railroad. Saint Louis County Highway 110 (CR 110) serves as a main route in Hoyt Lakes.
Its first post office opened in 1955. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 2,017 in 2010, 2,020 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Hoyt Lakes, 1887 to 1964
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Hoyt Lakes post office opened in 1955, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Hoyt Lakes rank for history?
Hoyt Lakes is more historic than 11% 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 Hoyt Lakes?
One place: the Longyear, E. J., First Diamond Drill Site (listed 1977).
How old are the homes in Hoyt Lakes?
0.0% of Hoyt Lakes’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.0 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1956.
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 Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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) 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.
