Founding year: the first Madison Lake post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Madison Lake’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Madison Lake is more historic than 38% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Madison Lake’s overall grade.
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 Madison Lake’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (23% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.7 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). 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 →
The area that is now Madison Lake was originally called Barclay's addition. In 1881, this land was deeded to L.S. Barclay for the town and was shortly thereafter named Madison Lake. A post office called Madison Lake has been in operation since 1885. The town took its name from nearby Madison Lake, which was named for President James Madison. The Village was incorporated in 1892.
The Wisconsin, Minnesota and Pacific Railroad built westward from Red Wing, Minnesota, reaching Madison Lake by 1884 at a distance 78.4 miles. Mankato, a further 20 miles westward, was reached by 1887. The railroad line became part of the Chicago Great Western Railroad. This railroad is now abandoned and is the route of the Sakatah Singing Hills State Trail.
Passages that mention Madison Lake, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Blue Earth County and biographies of its leading citizens1901 · page 196Read the page →
Read the text
brick school house at Amboy; a new post office established at Madison Lake in October, with Geo. W. Allyn as postmaster; the beginning of the erection of a big fiberware plant at Mankato by M. G. and John A. Willard, which was later transformed into a part of the present Knitting Mills; the dedication on October 18, 1885, at the town of Danville of the new Ger-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Blue Earth County and biographies of its leading citizens1901 · page 218Read the page →
Read the text
October 8, 1901, the saw mill of Wm. Durrin at Madison Lake was burned. October 22, 1901, the old settlers of Madison Lake and vicinity held a reunion, which was largely attended and enjoyed.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Madison Lake, 1885 to 1910
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Madison Lake post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Madison Lake rank for history?
Madison Lake is more historic than 38% 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.
How old are the homes in Madison Lake?
19% of Madison Lake’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.7 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1987.
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 Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1910
c. 1911
1911
c. 1912
