The Round Lake post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Indian Lake (1883), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
2020 census: 377141 years
Founding year: the first Round Lake post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Round Lake’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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 …
Passages that mention Round Lake, cut from the printed page as they were published.
An illustrated history of Nobles County, Minnesota1908 · page 249Read the page →
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With the progressive days of the late nineties and the boom in Nobles county land values, came a change in the standing of Round Lake. It developed from a sleepy hamlet into a bustling little town. New enterprises were established, including a newspaper, founded in tlie summer of 1898, and the Bank of Round
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
An illustrated history of Nobles County, Minnesota1908Read the page →
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Mr. Denkmann moved to Round Lake in 190.5 and took a position in the Bank of Round Lake. When the State Bank of Round Lake was organized in 1906 he was selected cashier of the new institution, and has since held the office. The other officers are Charles Xienaber. president: Louis Stoltenberg, vice president.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Round Lake, 1883 to 1885
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
