County Past
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Lake County, Minnesota

Historic newspapers, landmarks, and county history layers for genealogists and local historians.

—newspaper titles
—digitized titles
22historic places
—earliest paper
1855formed
10,905pop. 2020
10cemeteries
—CW battlefields

At a glance

Summary

The National Register of Historic Places includes 22 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1969; 1 is also National Historic Landmark. Most listings are in or near Two Harbors, Knife River, Silver Bay.

Summary generated automatically from the source data on this page.

Newspapers

Library of Congress

Newspaper directory data for Minnesota is not yet loaded on this site. Browse Lake titles at the Library of Congress.

National Register of Historic Places

NPS NRHP

11 of 22 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.

22 listed properties
PropertyCityTypeListed
BENJAMIN NOBLE (Shipwreck)Knife RiverStructure2007
Bridge No. 3589-Silver Creek TownshipSilver Creek TownshipStructure1998
Duluth and Iron Range Railroad Company DepotTwo HarborsBuilding1983
Dwan, John, Office BuildingTwo HarborsBuilding1992
EDNA G (tugboat)Two HarborsStructure1975
Gooseberry Falls State Park CCC/WPA/Rustic Style Historic ResourcesTwo HarborsDistrict1989
HARRIET B. (shipwreck)Two HarborsSite2018
HESPER Shipwreck SiteSilver BaySite1994
Halfway Ranger StationElyDistrict2011
Isabella Ranger StationIsabellaDistrict2006
Kawishiwi LodgeFall Lake TownshipDistrict2021
Lake County Courthouse and Sheriff's ResidenceTwo HarborsBuilding1983
Larsmont SchoolTwo HarborsBuilding1992
MADEIRA (Schooner-Barge) ShipwreckBeaver BaySite1992
Mattson, Edward and Lisa, House and Fish HouseEast Beaver BayBuilding1990
NIAGARA Shipwreck SiteKnife RiverSite1994
ONOKO (Bulk Freight Steamer) ShipwreckKnife RiverStructure1992
SAMUEL P. ELY ShipwreckTwo HarborsSite1992
Split Rock Light Station NHLTwo HarborsDistrict1969
Tettegouche Camp Historic DistrictSilver BayDistrict1989
Two Harbors Carnegie LibraryTwo HarborsBuilding1986
Two Harbors Light StationTwo HarborsBuilding1984

Source: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Property links open NRHP nomination files at the National Archives.

County formation

Newberry AHCB

Lake was formed in 1855 (1855-02-20) from Itasca.

SUPERIOR (later ST. LOUIS (original), now LAKE) created from ITASCA.

Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

Population by decade

Census

Lake County population from 1860 to 2020 (Census historical series).

14k6,9041061860188019201940196020002020
1860188019001920194019501960198020002020
2481064,6548,2516,9567,78113,70213,04311,05810,905

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau historical county population (Forstall 1790–1990) and public-domain / CC0 county population series through 2020.

Cemeteries & historical places

USGS GNIS

10 cemeteries and 0 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.

Cemeteries — 10 of 10 listed
NameLatLon
Beaver Bay Cemetery47.25722-91.30336
Finland Crystal Bay Cemetery47.41169-91.16257
Holy Spirit Catholic Cemetery47.02428-91.6879
Isabella Memorial Cemetery47.62435-91.36559
Lakeview Cemetery47.02433-91.68584
Reider Silver Bay Cemetery47.31199-91.23954
Sawtooth Mountain Cemetery47.31875-91.32701
Silver Creek Cemetery47.11188-91.60329
Toimi Cemetery47.37296-91.77387
Toimi Childrens Settlers Cemetery47.39142-91.75728

Source: USGS Geographic Names Information System (public domain). Cemeteries from the 2021 NationalFile archive; historical places from GNIS HistoricalFeatures topical extract.

Historical markers

HMdb link

Marker text and photos from the Historical Marker Database (HMdb) are not embedded here. HMdb allows non-commercial reuse with attribution, but commercial/compensated use needs written permission; this is a commercial site, so we only link out.

Search HMdb for Lake County, Minnesota

Terms: hmdb.org/copyright.asp. Linking is encouraged by HMdb.