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History · Ekalaka

Ekalaka’s post office opened in 1885, and 21% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the First National Bank of Ekalaka and Rickard Hardware Store Building.

1885first post office
1on the National Register
21%homes built before 1940
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Photo: J.B. Chandler · CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answers

How Ekalaka began

When was Ekalaka founded?

1885

The Ekalaka post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 399141 years
Founding year: the first Ekalaka post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
On the National Register

1 historic place in Ekalaka

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2015
First National Bank of Ekalaka and Rickard Hard…
First National Bank of Ekalaka and Rickard Hardware Store Building, built 1940
Buildings
All 1 listings
First National Bank of Ekalaka and Rickard Hardware Store BuildingBuilding · listed 2015

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Ekalaka’s post office has been open since 1885.

Gone or out of use
Community ChurchchurchDahl Memorial HospitalhospitalTrinity Evangelical Lutheran Churchchurch
1cemetery inside Ekalaka
Independent Order of Odd Fellows

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

Questions about Ekalaka’s history

What year was Ekalaka founded?

The Ekalaka post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Ekalaka?

One place: the First National Bank of Ekalaka and Rickard Hardware Store Building (listed 2015).

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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.