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Lac qui Parle State Park WPA/Rustic Style Historic DistrictLac qui Parle State Park WPA/Rustic Style Historic District · Photo: McGhiever · CC BY-SA 3.0
–Not graded
History · Lac qui Parle Township

Lac qui Parle Township’s post office opened in 1870, and 43% of its homes were built before 1940

1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 3 buildings. Below: maps from 1958 on.

1870first post office
1on the National Register
43%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Lac qui Parle Township began

When was Lac qui Parle Township founded?

1870

The Lac qui Parle Township post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Lac Qui Parle (1870), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 185156 years
Founding year: the first Lac qui Parle Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Lac qui Parle 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 Lac qui Parle Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Lac qui Parle Township’s homes were built before 1945.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Lac qui Parle Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lac qui Parle 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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The story so far

Lac qui Parle Township, in brief

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

Lac qui Parle ( LAK kee PARL) is an unincorporated community in Lac qui Parle Township, Lac qui Parle County, Minnesota, United States. Lac qui Parle Village is the county's first permanently settled community, starting in 1868. During the Dakota war of 1862, the community was vacated. Lac qui Parle village was the original county seat for Lac qui Parle County. The county board met in the hotel and post office building from 1871 to 1875, then in a rented space in the local general store until 1883 when a new courthouse was built. The courthouse was later moved to Madison, in 1889, after a county election chose Madison as the new seat. In 1899, ten years later, a new courthouse was built in.…

Its first post office opened in 1870. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 178 to 185 (+4%).

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

Timeline

Lac qui Parle Township, 1870 to 1958

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1870Post officeThe Lac Qui Parle post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1907Post officeThe Lac Qui Parle post office closes
  5. 1958On 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

Lac qui Parle Township on the map, 1958 to 1986

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

Lac qui Parle Township on the 1958 USGS mapLac qui Parle Township on the 1986 USGS map1958Milan sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Lac qui Parle Township.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Lac qui Parle Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
first listed
1991
Lac qui Parle State Park WPA/Rustic Style Histo…
Lac qui Parle State Park WPA/Rustic Style Historic District
Districts

Architectural styles listings

NPS Rustic1
Lac qui Parle State Park WPA/Rustic Style Historic DistrictNPS Rustic

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Lac qui Parle Township

Nobody well known was born in Lac qui Parle Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Wayne BrabenderAmerican-Spanish basketball player · b. 1945
Elmer Austin BensonAmerican politician · b. 1895
James Day HodgsonFormer U.S. Secretary of Labor; former U.S. Amb… · b. 1915
Clinton SundbergAmerican actor · b. 1903
Jeff NordgaardAmerican basketball player · b. 1973
Brad RheingansAmerican wrestler · b. 1953
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone

Another post office, Lac Qui Parle, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Lac qui Parle
Gone or out of use
Lac Qui Parle Post Officepost officeLac Qui Parle Post Officepost officeSchool Number 836school

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Kragero TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHantho TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBaxter TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCerro Gordo TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCamp Release Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Lac qui Parle Township’s history

What year was Lac qui Parle Township founded?

The Lac qui Parle Township post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Lac qui Parle Township?

One place: the Lac qui Parle State Park WPA/Rustic Style Historic District (listed 1991).

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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.