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Pelican Lake, Minnesota July 3, 2022Photo: Richard N Horne · CC BY-SA 4.0
–Not graded
History · Pelican Township

Half of Pelican Township’s homes were built after 1982

Most of Pelican Township was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. Below: maps from 1914 on.

0on the National Register
6%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Richard N Horne · CC BY-SA 4.0

What stands out about Pelican 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 Pelican Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Pelican Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Pelican 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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The story so far

Pelican Township, in brief

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

Pelican Township is a township in Otter Tail County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 574 at the 2020 census. Pelican Township was organized in 1870, and named for the Pelican River.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 625 to 574 (-8%).

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

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

Pelican Township on the map, 1914 to 1973

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

Pelican Township on the 1914 USGS mapPelican Township on the 1973 USGS map1914Pelican Rapids 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 Pelican Township.

Famous people

Famous people close to Pelican Township

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

See all →
Dave GoltzAmerican baseball player · b. 1949
Alta Lillian King(1899-1981) American dancer, singer, and Ziegfe… · b. 1899
R
Roger L. HansonAmerican politician · b. 1925
Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Gone or out of use
School Number 18schoolSchool Number 194schoolSchool Number 26schoolSchool Number 79schoolSchool Number 87school
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Pelican Township
BethelOld Pelican ValleyPelican ValleyRingsakerSaint Leonard's Catholic Church

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.

Erhards Grove TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townNorwegian Grove TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLida TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townScambler Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Pelican Township’s history

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps 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.