Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Lake Park

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Lake Park

Lake Park’s post office opened in 1873, and 41% of its homes were built before 1940

1873first post office
0on the National Register
41%homes built before 1940
3famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Lake Park began

When was Lake Park founded?

1873

The Lake Park post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Loring (1872), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

2020 census: 728153 years
Founding year: the first Lake Park post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Lake Park’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 Lake Park are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Lake Park’s homes were built before 1951.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Lake Park’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lake Park’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Lake Park came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Lake Park.

Read it all →

The area upon where Lake Park was founded, started to be settled in 1841 by fur traders while a Dakota encampment still existed on Lake Flora on which part of the City Park is now located.

The area was originally founded as Liberty Township. In 1871, the Liberty Township Board changed the name to Lake Park Township; for which the name "Lake Park" comes from a Dakota phrase of "Where the Prairies meet the Waters" as the site became a railway stop for the Great Northern Railway by the town founder, James Canfield.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Lake Park, 1872 to 1921

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1872Post officeThe Loring post office opens
  3. 1873Post officeThe Loring post office closes
  4. 1873Post officeThe Lake Park post office opens
  5. 1897Born hereCharles Thomas Wangensteen is born here
  6. 1898Born hereOwen Harding Wangensteen is born here
  7. 20th century
  8. 1921Born hereAdolph Herseth is born here
By decade

Lake Park, decade by decade

Today1 recent
Lake Park MN water tower2013Lake Park MN water tower
Famous people

3 famous people were born in Lake Park

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Adolph HersethAmerican musician · b. 1921
Owen Harding WangensteenSurgeon, university teacher and medical writer · b. 1898
C
Charles Thomas WangensteenAmerican politician – Minnesota -House 1933-36 … · b. 1897
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Lake Park’s post office has been open since 1873. Another post office, Loring, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Loring
1872–1873
Lake Park
1873–today
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Lake Park Trailer Court
Gone or out of use
Lake Park Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Lake Park
Oak Grove

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.

Lake Park TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Lake Park’s history

What year was Lake Park founded?

The Lake Park post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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 Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.