Most of Post Lake was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1981. Below: maps from 1973 on and old-book passages.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Post Lake yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Post Lake is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Elcho, Langlade County, Wisconsin, United States. Post Lake is 12 miles (19 km) southwest of Crandon. As of the 2020 census, its population was 343, down from 374 at the 2010 census. A post office was established in 1884, but it was eventually discontinued in 1913.
Its first post office opened in 1884. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 374 to 343 (-8%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Post Lake in 1922
Passages that mention Post Lake, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Langlade County, Wisconsin, from U. S. government survey to present time, with biographical sketches1922 · page 199Read the page →
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The Wisconsin Bridge & Construction Company of Milwaukee built an iron bridge across the narrows of Post Lake in 1902. The span of the bridge is 100 feet. The bridge was completed before December 1, 1902, at a cost of $2,490. The wooden bridge, previously used, was erected in December, 1895, by Gust Schmege. It was completed in February, 1896, at a cost of $500. J. W. Parsons and Walter Dorczeski,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Langlade County, Wisconsin, from U. S. government survey to present time, with biographical sketches1922 · page 198Read the page →
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District No. 2 is subdivided into three divisions with schools at Post Lake, the Sunset subdistrict and the Kosciousko (Polish) settlement. The Post Lake region is the most densely settled and the oldest in point of habitation by white settlers. Sunset subdistrict is situated nearer to the village of Elcho than the other two. It is well settled. The Kosciousko district has been settled since 1897.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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.
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 and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
