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History · Des Lacs

Des Lacs’ post office opened in 1888, and 21% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1950 on and the census since 1920.

1888first post office
0on the National Register
21%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Andrew Filer · CC BY-SA 2.0
Quick answers

How Des Lacs began, and where its name came from

When was Des Lacs founded?

1888

The Des Lacs post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Deslacs (1900), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 188 in 19202020 census: 185138 years

How did Des Lacs get its name?

Des Lacs was founded in 1888, named after the Riviere de Lacs (now Des Lacs River), from the French for "River The Lakes."

Founding year: the first Des Lacs post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

What stands out about Des Lacs’ 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 Des Lacs are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
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Start Des Lacs’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Des Lacs’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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The story so far

Des Lacs, in brief

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

Des Lacs is a city in Ward County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 185 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Minot Metropolitan Statistical Area. Des Lacs was founded in 1888, named after the Riviere de Lacs (now Des Lacs River), from the French for "River [of] The Lakes."

Its first post office opened in 1888. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 204 to 185 (-9%).

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

Timeline

Des Lacs, 1888 to 1950

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1888Post officeThe Des Lacs post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1900Post officeThe Deslacs post office opens
  5. 1948Post officeThe Deslacs post office closes
  6. 1950On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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.
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On the map

Des Lacs on the map, 1950 to 1980

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

Des Lacs on the 1950 USGS mapDes Lacs on the 1980 USGS map1950Des Lacs sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Des Lacs.

People over time

Des Lacs, census by census

0100200192019401960198020002020Peak: 216

Between 180 and 216 people in every census since 1920.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Des Lacs’s post office has been open since 1888. Another post office, Deslacs, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Des Lacs
1888–today
Deslacs
1900–1948
18801950today

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

Questions about Des Lacs’ history

What year was Des Lacs founded?

The Des Lacs post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
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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, 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.