Early history

The name "Mountain Lake" itself is attributed to the township's earliest non-native inhabitant, William Mason. As told on the city's (of the same name) website, “the first white settler to the area, William Mason, found a shallow 900-acre lake with three islands. The two smaller islands just broke the water's surface. The third much larger, higher island looked to Mason like a mountain rising from the lake. He named the lake Mountain Lake and the island Mountain Island.”^[9] The almost circular island, located in the center of the lake, was flat on top and rose about forty feet out of the water. The top of the island was covered with trees which could be seen for many miles, thus serving as a land-mark and a guide for early settlers.^[7] The township was named from the lake which contained the prominent island.^[5]

Demand for tillable farmland and construction advances led to the lake's draining in the 1905–06 timeframe.^[9] The original lake's largest island – now a tree-covered hill amidst the surrounding farmland – has become a county park, which since 1973 been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.^[10] Archeological evidence unearthed in a 1976 dig revealed remnants of a Meskwaki inhabitation from what could be as early as 500 B.C., making the former island's location within the township the oldest human habitation yet to be discovered in the state of Minnesota.^[11][12]

Formation

On May 6, 1871, Daniel D. Bates and others presented a petition at the organizational board meeting held in the home of A. A. Soule, requesting that "township 105, range 34 be set off and called Mountain Lake township." At the organizational meeting, the aforementioned Daniel D. Bates and A. A. Soule, plus M. Jacobson were appointed election judges and S. H. Soule was appointed clerk. The legal description of the newly formed townships was: "Commencing at the northeast corner of township 105, range 34, thence south to the southeast corner of said township and range; thence west to the southwest corner of said township, thence east to the northeast corner of said township and to the northeast corner of said township, thence to the place of beginning."^[7]

Mennonite settlement

Mennonite immigrants from Ukraine (at the time, Ukraine was part of Russia) began to arrive in the Mountain Lake area in 1873, having been recruited by William Seeger, a member of the Minnesota State Board of Immigration. Seeger had intentionally targeted these Mennonite farmers, “because they were believed to be hard workers of good character.” ^[13]

Because the township's farmland was already surveyed, the Mennonites could not arrange themselves in the traditional communal villages they had been accustomed to in their Ukrainian colonies. This forced them to adapt to American-style, single family farms and to live amongst their non-Mennonite neighbors. As settlement continued, however, they soon established a successful and cohesive farming community, “based primarily on agriculture and local commerce.” Many of the township's current residents are descendants of these immigrants.^[13]

The township contains a historic cemetery dating to circa 1880, located in section 22 of the township, where some of the pioneer Mennonite residents are buried. The population of the township in 1895 was 612 and the 1900 census counted 512 inhabitants.^[7]

Hutterite settlement

In 1994, the Neuhof Hutterite Colony in Mountain Lake township was founded as a division of the Spring Lake Hutterite Colony of Oldham, South Dakota.^[14] The Neuhof Colony reports 64 residents.^[15] Neuhof is associated with the Hutterite branch known as Schmiedeleut.^[16]

In 2005, a second Hutterite colony was formed as a branch of the Upland Hutterite Colony of Letcher, South Dakota, called Elmendorf Christian Community. This community is an independent colony, with a Hutterite tradition.^[17] Elmendorf reports 135 residents.^[18] Elmendorf is affiliated with a group of independent Hutterites known as the Hutterite Christian Communities.