Built in 1902 (Queen Anne style). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
From the record
“The Peter Kremer House is a historic house museum in Minnesota Lake, Minnesota, United States. The Minnesota Lake Historical Society operates the house as the Kremer House Library and Museum.”
Wikipedia article Peter Kremer House, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 11 National Register listings published here for Faribault County · listed in 1980 · category: Building · built in 1902, Queen Anne style.
National Register reference number.80004260- the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
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.
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.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Peter Kremer House
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.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Minnesota Lake, the town this property stands in, 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
No historic map-sheet match is published
for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs
a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
Browse the county's mapped places while that work is
pending.
Listed places nearby
1 within 8 miles
Other National Register properties close
enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both
positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties
to their map sheets.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
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.
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