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History · Nettle Lake

Nettle Lake’s post office opened in 1848

Most of Nettle Lake was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. Below: maps from 1914 on.

1848first post office
0on the National Register
4%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Nettle Lake began

When was Nettle Lake founded?

1848

The Nettle Lake post office opened in 1848, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 210178 years
Founding year: the first Nettle Lake post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Nettle Lake’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 Nettle Lake are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19144 editions of the USGS map, 1914 to 1973. Watch Nettle Lake change.Deep rootsA post office since 1848: 178 years of Nettle Lake.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Nettle Lake’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Nettle Lake’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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On the map

Nettle Lake on the map, 1914 to 1973

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

Nettle Lake on the 1914 USGS mapNettle Lake on the 1944 USGS mapNettle Lake on the 1961 USGS mapNettle Lake on the 1973 USGS map1914Pioneer 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 Nettle Lake.

The story so far

Nettle Lake, in brief

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

Nettle Lake is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Williams County, Ohio, United States, around the south end of the lake of the same name. It was first listed as a CDP following the 2010 census. As of the 2020 census, Nettle Lake had a population of 210. The CDP is in the northwest corner of Ohio, in the northern part of Williams County's Northwest Township. It is 1 mile (1.6 km) south of the Michigan border, 4 miles (6 km) east of the Indiana border, and 13 miles (21 km) northwest of Montpelier, Ohio. Nettle Lake drains out of its northern end into Nettle Creek, which flows southeast to the St. Joseph River, a southwest-flowing major tributary of the Maumee Ri…

Its first post office opened in 1848.

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

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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Famous people

Famous people close to Nettle Lake

Nobody well known was born in Nettle Lake itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Paul SipleAmerican explorer · b. 1908
Timothy E. TarsneyAmerican politician · b. 1849
Spencer Oliver FisherAmerican politician · b. 1843
Jason E. HammondAmerican author and educator · b. 1862
K
Keith LincolnPlayer of American football · b. 1939
C
Cook LougheedFort Wayne entrepreneur, civic leader and phila… · b. 1922

Questions about Nettle Lake’s history

What year was Nettle Lake founded?

The Nettle Lake post office opened in 1848, 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. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.