Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 48% of U.S. towns · #114 of 273 in Minnesota. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1952 on, and the census since 1880.
The White Bear Lake post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 48% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, White Bear Lake is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns, #114 of 273 in Minnesota. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
Minnesota towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Minnesota town has 2.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so White Bear Lake’s 1.7 sits near the middle of its state (53% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 4 listings outnumber those of 68% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how White Bear Lake’s history is told.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
From Wikipedia’s history of White Bear Lake.
The railroad was the largest man-made happening in White Bear Lake. On September 10, 1868, the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad officially opened the extension to White Bear Lake. This was a gala occasion. Ten platform cars of 300 men and four passenger cars for 200 ladies made the trip from St. Paul.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention White Bear Lake, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The first store opened at White Bear Lake was by Daniel Getty in 1870. in a small building near the depot 18x20, in which he kept a general stock of merchandise. In 1875 he erected his present store, comer of Clark Avenue and Third street, of wood. 20x(50. two stories, tlie upper story being fitted up for a public ball.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.![On May 1st, 1880, a contract was made witli the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railroad Company , allowing that com])aiiy to nm its trains from White Bear Lake station to Duluth, upon the annual payment of $50,000, and such i)roportion of the expenses for maintaining and repairing that portion of the ro…](https://images.townratings.com/story/8827/bk-6fea482c4c730ea4-l.jpg)
On May 1st, 1880, a contract was made witli the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railroad Company , allowing that com])aiiy to nm its trains from White Bear Lake station to Duluth, upon the annual payment of $50,000, and such i)roportion of the expenses for maintaining and repairing that portion of the road used, as the wheelage of its trains bore to the whole wheelage passing over
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveCottage for Lane K. Stone
Born hereMoose Goheen is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereRyan Carter is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of White Bear Lake. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of White Bear Lake.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on White Bear Lake’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 435 people in 1880 to 24,883 in 2020, more than tenfold.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on White Bear Lake’s Wikipedia page.
White Bear Lake had its own post office from 1857 to 1938.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The White Bear Lake post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
White Bear Lake is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns, #114 of 273 in Minnesota. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
4 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Charles P. Noyes Cottage (listed 1976, the first).
10% of White Bear Lake’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.4 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1969.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (1), the Library of Congress (3), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (4), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via 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.
1892
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