BlockMinnesota Lake, Minnesota
8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Minnesota Lake City. It lies in ZIP code area 56068. The Survey maps it on the Minnesota Lake quadrangle. 661 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,043 feet above sea level.
On record in Minnesota Lake
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 1 record
- Peter Kremer Houselisted 1980
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 8 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1954 USGS Mason City quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Mason City quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Mason City quadrangle1:250000
- 1967 USGS Minnesota Lake quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1985 USGS Albert Lea quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
In the county-history sources
1,065 words on this townshipThe History of Faribault County, Minnesota : from Its First Settlement to the Close of the Year 1879 : the Story of the Pioneers, published 1896 names this settlement in its chapter on Minnesota Lake City. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.
A prominent citizen of this town for many years was Smith T. Barnes. Mr. Barnes was born on a farm in St Lawrence county, N. Y., January 11th, 1841.. His early youth was spent on the farm. His father engaged in farming and merchandising until his death. Smith received his education in the district schools of the locality and at a select school. When eighteen years old he engaged in clerking in a store at Racket River, N. Y. Subsequently he was appointed postmaster at this place by President Lincoln. His brother, George, came to Minnesota Lake in 1804, and giving favorable accounts of the country, Smith came west also and located at the Lake, May 8th, 1866. His mother, then a widow, and his brother, Frank, came to the Lake in 1868. Mr. Barnes, on locating hero, went to work at once to erect a building, and in August purchased a stock of groceries and opened a store. He soon after added dry goods. In December of that year he was appointed postmaster at the Lake, a position which he held for eighteen years. Mr. Barnes, though always a staunch democrat in politics, was appointed postmaster in New York, and also in Minnesota, under republican admistrations.
Passage source: The History of Faribault County, Minnesota : from Its First Settlement to the Close of the Year 1879 : the Story of the Pioneers, published 1896.
Benning W. Barber was in partnership with Mr. Barnes in the mercantile business which continued until 1871, when Mr. Barnes sold out. Several years later he opened a drug store. After the building of the railroad through the town, he also engaged, for some years, in the purchase of grain. Mr. Barnes was married in August. 1871, to Miss Agnes Lambie. of Minnesota Lake. They have had three childi-en, one of whom is now dead. Mr. Barnes' fitness for office was soon apjiarent to his neighbors, and he was chosen town clerk at an early day, an office which he held for fifteen years. He was also justice of the peace for ten years. During those years there was no lawyer residing at the Lake, and Mr. Barnes did much of the conveyancing, writing of contracts and of wills for the people. He was also for many years connected with the school boards of the town.
Passage source: The History of Faribault County, Minnesota : from Its First Settlement to the Close of the Year 1879 : the Story of the Pioneers, published 1896.
Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.
Fires near this place
1 since 2015Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Minnesota Lake in 2015, burning about 1 acre in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 April 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Windom Wetland Management District | MINNESOTA LAKE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
17 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Minnesota Lake in 17 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 8 thunderstorm wind, 5 hail, 1 flood, 1 flash flood. The reports record 1 injury. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2005 | Hail | Minnesota Lake | 1 hurt | Golf ball sized hail fell in and around Minnesota Lake, west to County Road 17 N (460th Avenue), east to County Road 29 (570th Avenue), and south to 200th Street. Hail drifts and considerable corn and soybean crop damage were reported. One person walking from a shed to their house was bloodied by the hail. |
| September 2010 | Flood | Minnesota Lake | $402,000 | Numerous roads were closed due to excessive rainfall that fell on September 22nd and 23th. |
| June 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Minnesota Lake | $100,000 | Several large trees blew down, which damaged three homes and a garage. Power lines were also blown down due to falling trees. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Minnesota Lake | $50,000 | Several power lines and trees were blown down near Minnesota Lake, Minnesota. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Minnesota Lake | $25,000 | Hundreds of trees and some power poles were blown down in a two mile wide swath from southeast of Minnesota Lake to southeast of Wells. Several trees up to 3 feet in diameter were blown down across Highway 22. Sheds and other outbuildings were also damaged. Most of the damage in Wells was in the northern and eastern portions. |
| April 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Minnesota Lake | - | Photo of large pine tree blown over. |
| May 2018 | Tornado (EF0) | Minnesota Lake | - | A landspout tornado moved across an open field and was filmed on video. It did not hit anything. |
| July 2013 | Flash Flood | Minnesota Lake | - | The local fire department in Minnesota Lake had to pump water out of intersections near Lake Street and Highway 22 due to flowing water. |
| June 2013 | Heavy Rain | Minnesota Lake | - | A rainfall total of 3.37 inches occurred in a four hour period near Minnesota Lake. |
| June 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Minnesota Lake | - | A few trees snapped. Some hail reported but diameter could not be determined. Combination of wind and hail damaged some crops across a small area. Three inches of rain reported in just over an hour. |
| August 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Minnesota Lake | - | Numerous trees were downed. A large Maple tree branch was blown into the roof of a home. Phone lines were also downed. |
| September 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Minnesota Lake | - | Tree damage was reported in and around Minnesota Lake, west to County Road 17 N (460th Avenue), east to County Road 29 (570th Avenue), and south to 200th Street. Trees up to 14 inches in diameter were broken off 5 feet above the ground. Several other trees were topped off and stripped of leaves. Some small buildings were damaged or blown down along West 4th Street. A radio tower was twisted and felled. |
| July 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Minnesota Lake | - | Trees down. Estimated windspeed. |
| June 2013 | Hail | Minnesota Lake | - | no account filed |
| July 2008 | Hail | Minnesota Lake | - | no account filed |
| May 2008 | Hail | Minnesota Lake | - | no account filed |
| August 1993 | Hail | Minnesota Lake | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Minnesota Lake | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q301845 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 647940. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.