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History · Lida Township

Lida Township’s post office opened in 1882

Most of Lida Township was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1990.

1882first post office
0on the National Register
5%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Lida Township began

When was Lida Township founded?

1882

The Lida Township post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Lida (1882) and Bessie (1895), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 780144 years
Founding year: the first Lida Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Lida 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 Lida Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Lida Township.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Lida Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lida 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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Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Lida
1882–1906
Bessie
1895–1906
18801950today
Gone or out of use
Bessie Post Officepost officeLida Post Officepost officeSchool Number 156NschoolSchool Number 276school
1cemetery inside Lida Township
East Lida

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

The story so far

Lida Township, in brief

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

Lida Township is a township in Otter Tail County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 780 at the 2020 census. Lida Township was organized in 1879, and named for Lake Lida.

Its first post office opened in 1882. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 757 to 780 (+3%).

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

Timeline

Lida Township, 1882 to 1906

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1882Post officeThe Lida post office opens
  3. 1895Post officeThe Bessie post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1906Post officeThe Lida post office closes
  6. 1906Post officeThe Bessie post office closes
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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Famous people

Famous people close to Lida Township

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

See all →
Dave GoltzAmerican baseball player · b. 1949
R
Roger L. HansonAmerican politician · b. 1925
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Dunn TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMaplewood TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPelican TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townDora TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Lida Township’s history

What year was Lida Township founded?

The Lida Township post office opened in 1882, 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 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.