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–Not graded
History · Luck

18% of Luck’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1955 on and the census since 1910.

0on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

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

Start Luck’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Luck’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

How Luck came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Luck.

Read it all →

Luck was originally two settlements, Luck on Big Butternut Lake, and West Denmark further west, founded by Danish immigrants in 1869 on the north and west shores of Little Butternut Lake and extending out a few miles. The two settlements knew it was impractical to remain separate entities, but disagreed about which would be the center of town. The railroad settled the issue when it laid tracks near the eastern settlement. Luck was not incorporated until 1905, several years later than most surrounding villages. Luck was once home to the Duncan Toys Company Yo-Yo factory headquarters.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Luck, 1877 to 1955

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1877Post officeThe West Denmark post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1904Post officeThe West Denmark post office closes
  5. 1955On 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

Luck on the map, 1955 to 1983

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

Luck on the 1955 USGS mapLuck on the 1974 USGS mapLuck on the 1983 USGS map1955Frederic 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 Luck.

People over time

Luck, census by census

02004006008001,0001,200192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,210

Between 383 and 1,210 people in every census since 1910.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Another post office, West Denmark, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Pole Cat CrossingWest Denmark
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Luck
LawsonSaint Peters

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.

LaketownIts storyC+Bone LakeIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMilltownIts storyCFrederic1 historic placeB−West SwedenIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Luck’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 Wikipedia, 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.