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History · Ponto Lake Township

Half of Ponto Lake Township’s homes were built after 1984

Most of Ponto Lake Township was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1984. Below: maps from 1971 on.

0on the National Register
4%homes built before 1940
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What stands out about Ponto 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 Ponto Lake Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
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Start Ponto Lake Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Ponto 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 so far

Ponto Lake Township, in brief

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

Ponto Lake Township is a township in Cass County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 589 as of the 2020 census. The etymology of the name Ponto is obscure.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 481 to 589 (+22%).

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

Timeline

Ponto Lake Township, 1903 to 1971

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1903Post officeThe Pontoria post office opens
  3. 1919Post officeThe Pontoria post office closes
  4. 1971On 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.

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On the map

Ponto Lake Township on the map in 1971

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

Ponto Lake Township on the 1971 USGS map1971Lake Ada sheet · 1:24,000

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

Places that used to be

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

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

Hamlets and corners on the map
Pontoria
Gone or out of use
Pontoria Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Ponto Lake Township
Ponto Lake

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.

Blind Lake TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWoodrow TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPowers TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBarclay TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townTimothy TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Ponto Lake Township’s history

Memory lane

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

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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, 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.