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History · Thief Lake Township

26% of Thief Lake Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1918 on.

0on the National Register
26%homes built before 1940
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What stands out about Thief 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 Thief Lake Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Thief Lake Township.On the map since 19184 editions of the USGS map, 1918 to 1984. Watch Thief Lake Township change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Thief Lake Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Thief 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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Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Homolka
1901–1925
Jane
1912–1922
19001960today
Gone or out of use
Homolka Post Officepost officeHonker Flats AirportairportJane Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Thief Lake Township
Our Savior's

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

On the map

Thief Lake Township on the map, 1918 to 1984

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

Thief Lake Township on the 1918 USGS mapThief Lake Township on the 1943 USGS mapThief Lake Township on the 1962 USGS mapThief Lake Township on the 1984 USGS map1918Rollis 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 Thief Lake Township.

The story so far

Thief Lake Township, in brief

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

Thief Lake is a lake in Marshall County, in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Minnesota’s Department of Natural Resources maintains the lake with goals of managing the waterfowl and elk populations but is not part of the state's Sentinel Lakes Program. The lake gives its name to the township that it stands on, Thief Lake Township. The lake is linked to the Red Lake River via Thief River. The two rivers meet at Thief River Falls. The lake's water level is controlled by a dam which whose construction started in 1930 and finished in 1931. The area is designated as a Wildlife management area. Studies on population density starting as early as 1957 and as late as 2004 show a decrease in the lake's ob…

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 39 to 30 (-23%).

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

Timeline

Thief Lake Township, 1901 to 1925

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1901Post officeThe Homolka post office opens
  3. 1912Post officeThe Jane post office opens
  4. 1918On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1922Post officeThe Jane post office closes
  6. 1925Post officeThe Homolka 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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Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Whiteford TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMoose River TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPoplar Grove Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townComo TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townRollis TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Thief 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.