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History · Round Lake Township

Round Lake Township’s post office opened in 1872, and 23% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1960 on and the census since 1890.

1872first post office
0on the National Register
23%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Round Lake Township began

When was Round Lake Township founded?

1872

The Round Lake Township post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Round Lake (1872), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 174 in 18902020 census: 144154 years
Founding year: the first Round Lake Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Round 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 Round Lake Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 506 in 1970; 377 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Round Lake Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Round 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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People over time

Round Lake Township, census by census

01002003004005001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 506

Peaked at 506 in 1970; 377 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

The story

How Round Lake Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Round Lake Township.

Read it all →

Founding of Round Lake: Round Lake was established in 1882 when the Burlington Railroad built a line connecting Lake Park, Iowa, to Worthington, Minnesota. A site for a railroad station was chosen in fall of 1882, and the initial choice of name was Indian Lake, after the township in which it was located. However, a wealthy Chicago Board of Trade operator named Mr. O. H. Roche donated 20 acres (81,000 m2) of land for a townsite, and it was his wish that it be called Round Lake. Mr. Roche owned nearly 2,000 acres (8.1 km2) of land on nearby Round Lake in Jackson County, and he was apparently fond of the name Round Lake. A town was platted in December 1882 and the site was divided into 100 lots, not one of which were sold. Only two buildings were built in that first year, and both were constructed by the railroad. The railroad section foreman and his crew were the only residents of …

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Round Lake Township, 1872 to 1970

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1872Post officeThe Round Lake post office opens
  3. 1884Post officeThe Round Lake post office closes
  4. 20th century
  5. 1960On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1970CensusPopulation peaks at 506
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

Round Lake Township on the map, 1960 to 1985

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

Round Lake Township on the 1960 USGS mapRound Lake Township on the 1985 USGS map1960Round Lake 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 Round Lake Township.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and burying grounds

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

1cemetery inside Round Lake Township
Norwegian

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.

Indian Lake TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSioux Valley TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townEwington TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Round Lake Township’s history

What year was Round Lake Township founded?

The Round Lake Township post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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, 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.