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History · Clear Lake

20% of Clear Lake’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1985 on and the census since 1880.

0on the National Register
20%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory

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

Start Clear Lake’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Clear Lake’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

Clear Lake, in brief

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 is a village in Polk County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,099 at the 2020 census. The village is adjacent to the Town of Clear Lake along U.S. Highway 63.

Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 899 in 2010, 888 in 2020.

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.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Clear Lake on the map in 1985

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Clear Lake.

Clear Lake on the 1985 USGS map1985Stillwater sheet · 1:100,000

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.

People over time

Clear Lake, census by census

02004006008001,0001,200188019001920194019601980200020201,099

Grew from 476 people in 1880 to 1,099 in 2020.

14 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Clear Lake’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Places now gone

Gone or out of use
Edgewood SchoolschoolSunnydale Schoolschool

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.

Vance CreekIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townClaytonIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBlack BrookIts storyC+ForestIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Clear Lake’s history

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 Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.