Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 50% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Deuel County Courthouse and Jail. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1970 on, and the census since 1890.
The Clear Lake post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Deuel Center (1879), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 50% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Clear Lake is more historic than 50% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
South Dakota towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical South Dakota town has 37.3 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Clear Lake’s 7.5 sits near the middle of its state (38% of South Dakota towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 Clear Lake’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Clear Lake yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Clear Lake (Dakota: mdéza; "Clear") is a city in and the county seat of Deuel County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 1,218 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1881. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,273 to 1,218 (-4%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveClear Lake, Washington, ca. 1906
BuiltDeuel County Courthouse and Jail is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Clear 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 Clear 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 Clear Lake’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Between 147 and 1,335 people in every census since 1890.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Clear Lake’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Clear Lake’s post office has been open since 1881. Another post office, Deuel Center, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Clear Lake post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Clear Lake is more historic than 50% of U.S. towns. 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.
One place: the Deuel County Courthouse and Jail (listed 1976).
18% of Clear Lake’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.6 points), against a typical 10% for a South Dakota town; the median home was built in 1974.
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 (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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) 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.
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