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History · Pickerel Lake Township

36% of Pickerel Lake Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1954 on.

0on the National Register
36%homes built before 1940
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What stands out about Pickerel 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 Pickerel Lake Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Pickerel Lake Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Pickerel 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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The story

How Pickerel Lake Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Pickerel Lake Township.

Read it all →

Pickerel Lake Township was organized in 1865, and took its name from the Pickerel Lake. Rudolph Hanson (1903-2002), Minnesota lawyer and politician, was born in Pickerel Lake Township.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Pickerel Lake Township, 1878 to 1957

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1878Post officeThe Armstrong post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1954On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1957Post officeThe Armstrong post office closes
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.

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On the map

Pickerel Lake Township on the map in 1954

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pickerel Lake Township.

Pickerel Lake Township on the 1954 USGS map1954Albert Lea 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 Pickerel Lake Township.

Famous people

Famous people close to Pickerel Lake Township

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

See all →
Eddie CochranAmerican rock and roll pioneer · b. 1938
Richard CarlsonAmerican actor, television and film director, a… · b. 1912
T
Tim PennyAmerican politician · b. 1951
Henry Oscar TalleAmerican politician · b. 1892
W
Wayne PetersonAmerican composer · b. 1927
William A. SpicerAmerican Seventh-day Adventist minister · b. 1865
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Hamlets and corners on the map
Armstrong
Gone or out of use
ArmstronglocaleArmstrong Post Officepost office
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Pickerel Lake Township
Concordia Lutheran Church Cemetery of Pickerel LakeShady Oak

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.

CongerIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAlbert Lea5 historic placesA−Manchester TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAlbert Lea TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townNunda TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAlden TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Pickerel Lake 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 Wikipedia, 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.