The story
Read it all →How Laketown Township came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Laketown Township.
Laketown Township organized in 1858, and was named for its numerous small lakes.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
B+History
History · Laketown Township
10% of Laketown Township’s homes were built before 1940
More historic than 74% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Andrew Peterson Farmstead and the Zoar Moravian Church. Below: maps from 1905 on and the census since 1860.
2on the National Register
10%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Quick answers
About Laketown Township’s history
How historic is Laketown Township?
B+
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 74% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
History grade
What drives Laketown Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Laketown Township is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Laketown Township’s overall grade.
Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 194010.3% of homes (±4.2) · typical MN town 8.1% · U.S. 8.4%B−National Register2 listings, 6 historic buildings, 28.2 per 10,000 residents · typical MN town 2.1 · U.S. 2.4A−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 74%
NewerOlder
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 Laketown Township’s 28.2 sits above most of its state (89% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 6 historic buildings outnumber those of 72% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.2 points).
Founding year: our sources. 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 Laketown Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Laketown Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Laketown Township’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.On the map
Laketown Township on the map, 1905 to 1993
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Laketown Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1905Minnetonka sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Laketown Township.
Timeline
Laketown Township, 1856 to 1905
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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 National Register
2 historic places in Laketown Township
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
6
each building in a district counts
first listed
1979
Andrew Peterson Farmstead
Buildings
Architectural styles listings
Greek Revival1
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Laketown Township, census by census
Between 648 and 2,424 people in every census since 1860.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Laketown Township’s Wikipedia page.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds
Another post office, Scandia, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Gone or out of use
Scandia Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Laketown Township
Scandia
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.
Questions about Laketown Township’s history
How does Laketown Township rank for history?
Laketown Township is more historic than 74% 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 Laketown Township?
Two places: the Andrew Peterson Farmstead (listed 1979) and the Zoar Moravian Church (1980).
How old are the homes in Laketown Township?
10% of Laketown Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.2 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1975.
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).
From Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, 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.