Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Twin Lakes

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Twin Lakes

Twin Lakes dates to 1858, and 12% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1954 on and the census since 1880.

1858founded
0on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Twin Lakes began

When was Twin Lakes founded?

1858

Twin Lakes dates its founding to 1858 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.

First census: 77 in 18802020 census: 134168 years
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1859.The full story ↓

What stands out about Twin Lakes’ 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 Twin Lakes are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 230 in 1970; 134 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Twin Lakes’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Twin Lakes’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Twin Lakes, census by census

010020018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 230

Peaked at 230 in 1970; 134 people lived here in 2020.

8 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Twin Lakes’ Wikipedia page.

The story

How Twin Lakes came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Twin Lakes.

Read it all →

Twin Lakes was platted in 1858, and named for a pair of lakes near the town site. The railroad was extended to town in 1878. A post office was established at Twin Lakes in 1881.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Twin Lakes, 1858 to 1970

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1858
    FoundingTwin Lakes is established
  3. 1859Post officeThe Nunda post office opens
  4. 1881Post officeThe Nunda post office closes
  5. 1881Post officeThe Twin Lakes post office opens
  6. 20th century
  7. 1954On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 1970CensusPopulation peaks at 230
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.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Twin Lakes on the map, 1954 to 1982

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

Twin Lakes on the 1954 USGS mapTwin Lakes on the 1982 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 Twin Lakes.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone

Twin Lakes’s post office has been open since 1881. Another post office, Nunda, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Nunda
1859–1881
Twin Lakes
1881–today
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Lakeview Mobile Home Park
Gone or out of use
Twin Lakeslocale

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

Questions about Twin Lakes’ history

What year was Twin Lakes founded?

In 1858, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Twin Lakes’ post office opened in 1859, and the census of 1880 counted 77 people here.

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
Start a conversation
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.