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Norseland General StoreNorseland General Store · Photo: Bobak Ha'Eri · CC BY 3.0
–Not graded
History · Lake Prairie Township

37% of Lake Prairie Township’s homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Norseland General Store. Below: maps from 1965 on.

1on the National Register
37%homes built before 1940
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What stands out about Lake Prairie 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 Lake Prairie Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Lake Prairie Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lake Prairie 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

Lake Prairie Township, in brief

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

Lake Prairie Township is a township in Nicollet County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 652 at the 2000 census. Lake Prairie Township was organized in 1858, and named for the lakes and prairie within its borders.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 672 to 630 (-6%).

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

Timeline

Lake Prairie Township, 1865 to 1965

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1865Post officeThe Norseland post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1905Post officeThe Norseland post office closes
  5. 1965On 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.

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On the map

Lake Prairie Township on the map, 1965 to 1991

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

Lake Prairie Township on the 1965 USGS mapLake Prairie Township on the 1986 USGS mapLake Prairie Township on the 1991 USGS map1965Norseland 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 Lake Prairie Township.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Lake Prairie Township

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1983
Norseland General Store
Norseland General Store
Buildings
Norseland General StoreBuilding

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

Places that used to be

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

Another post office, Norseland, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Norseland
Gone or out of use
Norseland Post Officepost office
6cemeteries and burying grounds inside Lake Prairie Township
Anderson FamilyMethodistNorselandSauerScandian GroveScandian 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.

Ottawa Township6 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townTraverse TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townNew Sweden TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHenderson TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townKelso TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Lake Prairie Township’s history

What is on the National Register in Lake Prairie Township?

One place: the Norseland General Store (listed 1983).

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.