Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Peter Kremer House. Below: maps from 1910 on and the census since 1880.
The Minnesota Lake post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Franklintown (1857), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Minnesota Lake’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Minnesota Lake.
Minnesota Lake was platted in 1866, and named after the nearby Minnesota Lake. The historic home of Peter Kremer and Millie Zabel, early community leaders, operates as a library and museum.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Minnesota Lake, cut from the printed page as they were published.
houses and barns, are seen on every hand. The most distant part of the town is not more than seven miles, on a direct line, from a railroad market at Wells, and a portion of the town is quite near a railroad market, at Minnesota Lake, and Wells and Minnesota Lake are the commercial or trading points, of this town. The line of the Central Railroad passes through the southwest corner of the town.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
To provide for the election of county superintendent. To authorize the auditor to extend certain taxes on the books. To incorporate the village of Minnesota Lake. To change the boundaries of certain school districts. The county was represented at this session by J. P. West, of Wells, in the Senate, and in the House by A. R. More, Sr., of Pilot Grove, and Chas. S. Dunbar, of Poster. James B. Wakefield, lieutenant governor, president of the Senate, Geo. W. Buswell, chief
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Minnesota Lake. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Minnesota Lake.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1910Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 208 and 744 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Minnesota Lake’s Wikipedia page.
Minnesota Lake’s post office has been open since 1858. Another post office, Franklintown, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Minnesota Lake post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Peter Kremer House (listed 1980).
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
