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History · Otter Tail Township

1 of Otter Tail Township’s places is on the National Register

Its Register listing is the Craigie Flour Mill Historical Marker. Most of Otter Tail Township was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1983. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1912 on, and the census since 1910.

1on the National Register
4%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Otter Tail Township’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Otter Tail 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 writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1940 and 1960, then grew 3-fold.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Otter Tail Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Otter Tail Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewSoo Line Railroad Station: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Otter Tail Township, census by census

0100200300400500600700192019401960198020002020254 in 1940Low: 164

Lost a third of its people between 1940 and 1960, then grew 3-fold.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Otter Tail Township’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How Otter Tail Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Otter Tail Township.

Read it all →

Ottertail was platted in 1903, and named for nearby Otter Tail Lake.

"Otter Tail" City appeared on the United States Census as early as 1860.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Otter Tail Township, 1870 to 2020

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1870Post officeThe Balmoral post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1905Post officeThe Balmoral post office closes
  5. 1912On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1940BuiltCraigie Flour Mill Historical Marker is built
  7. 21st century
  8. 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 629
By decade

Otter Tail Township, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Soo Line Railroad StationDate?Soo Line Railroad Station
Today3 recent
Ottertail, Minnesota2017Ottertail, MinnesotaOttertail2007OttertailMNMap-doton-Ottertail2005MNMap-doton-Ottertail
On the map

Otter Tail Township on the map, 1912 to 1973

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

Otter Tail Township on the 1912 USGS mapOtter Tail Township on the 1973 USGS map1912Battle Lake 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 Otter Tail Township.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Soo Line Railroad Station
Retake this viewSoo Line Railroad Station

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Otter Tail Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Otter Tail 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
2003
Craigie Flour Mill Historical Marker
Craigie Flour Mill Historical Marker, built 1940
Sites

Architectural styles listings

NPS Rustic1
Craigie Flour Mill Historical MarkerNPS Rustic · Built 1940

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Otter Tail Township

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

See all →
Peter HayesAmerican guitarist · b. 1976
D
Duane ChristophersonAmerican football coach · b. 1930
E
Emery FletcherAmerican religious leader · b. 1868
E
Erle WhitingAmerican Latter Day Saints leader · b. 1876
R
Rupert FletcherAmerican religious leader · b. 1896
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Gone or out of use
Balmoral Post Officepost officeSchool Number 131schoolSchool Number 163schoolSchool Number 267school
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Otter Tail Township
Otter TailZion

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.

OttertailIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townRush Lake TownshipIts storyC−Girard TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAmor TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLeaf Lake TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Otter Tail Township’s history

What is on the National Register in Otter Tail Township?

One place: the Craigie Flour Mill Historical Marker (listed 2003).

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 Wikimedia Commons (4), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.