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History · Spirit Lake Township

Spirit Lake Township’s post office opened in 1882, and 20% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Shady Lawn School No. 8. Below: maps from 1953 on.

1882first post office
1on the National Register
20%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Spirit Lake Township began

When was Spirit Lake Township founded?

1882

The Spirit Lake Township post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Spirit Lake (1882), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 168144 years
Founding year: the first Spirit Lake Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Spirit Lake Township’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 Spirit Lake Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Spirit Lake Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Spirit Lake Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Spirit Lake Township, in brief

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

Its first post office opened in 1882. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 130 to 168 (+29%).

Timeline

Spirit Lake Township, 1882 to 1953

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1882Post officeThe Spirit Lake post office opens
  3. 1885Post officeThe Spirit Lake post office closes
  4. 20th century
  5. 1953On 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

Spirit Lake Township on the map in 1953

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Spirit Lake Township.

Spirit Lake Township on the 1953 USGS map1953Watertown sheet · 1:250,000

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

On the National Register

1 historic place in Spirit Lake Township

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
first listed
2019
Shady Lawn School No. 8
Shady Lawn School No. 8
Buildings
All 1 listings
Shady Lawn School No. 8Building · listed 2019

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Another post office, Spirit Lake, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Gone or out of use
School Number 10schoolSchool Number 11schoolSchool Number 12schoolSchool Number 38schoolSchool Number 5schoolSchool Number 6schoolSchool Number 7schoolSchool Number 8schoolSchool Number 9school
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Spirit Lake Township
German PresbyterianSpirt LakeWest Bethany Lutheran Church

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

De Smet TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHartland TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLe Sueur TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townManchester TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Spirit Lake Township’s history

What year was Spirit Lake Township founded?

The Spirit Lake Township post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Spirit Lake Township?

One place: the Shady Lawn School No. 8 (listed 2019).

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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.