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History · Mayhew Lake Township

17% of Mayhew Lake Township’s homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Esselman Brothers General Store. Below: maps from 1950 on.

1on the National Register
17%homes built before 1940
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What stands out about Mayhew Lake 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 Mayhew Lake Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Mayhew Lake Township, and 3 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Mayhew Lake Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Mayhew Lake 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, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Hamlets and corners on the map
FruitvilleMayhewPopple Creek
Gone or out of use
Mayhew Post Officepost office
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Mayhew Lake Township
Polish Lutheran ChurchSaint John'sSaint Marys

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

The story so far

Mayhew Lake Township, in brief

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

Mayhew Lake Township is a township in Benton County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 831 as of the 2010 census. Mayhew Lake Township was named for George V. Mayhew, an early settler of Benton County who became a state legislator.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 831 to 865 (+4%).

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

Timeline

Mayhew Lake Township, 1898 to 1950

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1898Post officeThe Mayhew post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1901Post officeThe Mayhew post office closes
  5. 1950On 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.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Mayhew Lake Township on the map, 1950 to 1974

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

Mayhew Lake Township on the 1950 USGS mapMayhew Lake Township on the 1974 USGS map1950St Cloud sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Mayhew Lake Township.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Mayhew Lake 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
1982
Esselman Brothers General Store
Esselman Brothers General Store
Buildings
Esselman Brothers General StoreBuilding

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Mayhew Lake Township

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

See all →
Gig YoungAmerican actor · b. 1913
Joel GretschAmerican actor · b. 1963
June MarloweAmerican actress · b. 1903
A
Alise WilloughbyAmerican bicycle motocross rider · b. 1991
Nate SchmidtAmerican ice hockey player · b. 1991
Nate WoltersAmerican basketball player · b. 1991
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Gilmanton TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGraham TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWatab TownshipIts storyC−Minden TownshipIts storyC−

Questions about Mayhew Lake Township’s history

What is on the National Register in Mayhew Lake Township?

One place: the Esselman Brothers General Store (listed 1982).

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 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.