Briefly, How West Lakeland Came to Be
West Lakeland was formed by the partition of the Town of Lakeland on July 10, 1950.
The division of the congressional township 29 North Range 20 West was made anterior to the admission of the state.
Baytown Township and Lakeland Township were formed Oct 20, 1858, from the congressional town with each having 12 full and 3 partial sections.
In the formation of Lakeland Township in October 1858, it was argued that the southern border should be Bolles Creek. After much debate the compromise was to include in Lakeland Township what is now the city of Lakeland (section two and the north half of the north half of section eleven).
Excerpts from Washington County Board of Commissioners June & July 1950
“On May 2nd, 1950 a petition was filed containing the signature of 182 legal voters residing in the Town of Lakeland, Washington County, Minnesota requesting the formation of a new town to be called Town of West Dakeland <sic> by dividing the present territory of the said Town of Lakeland and altering the boundaries so that there shall be created two separate towns.” ….
“A motion made by Commissioner Pederson, seconded by Commissioner Wright and unanimously passed, set the date for hearing of said petition on July 10th, 1950 at 10:00
a, m, and directed that notice of said hearing be given according to law.” ….
“RESOLUTION RE:PARTITION OP <sic> TOWN OF LAKELAND
Upon the motion of Commissioner Robert Wright, seconded by Commissioner Idor Pederson, the following resolution was adopted:
WHEREAS the petition signed by Ruth Dornfeld and 181 other persons who were all legal voters residing in one part of the Town of Lakeland, Washington County, Minnesota described in said petition duly filed in the office of the County Auditor on April 26, 1950, came on for hearing before the Board of County Commissioners of the County of Washington* ^tate <sic> of Minnesota, at a meeting of said Board duly held on the 10th day of July, 1950, requesting said Board to form a new Town from the present territory of said Town of Lakeland and dividing said Town of Lakeland and altering said boundaries of said Town so that there shall be formed two separate towns, each of which shall be described and named as follows, to-wit:
TOWN OF WEST LAKELAND” …..
“BE IT RESOLVED, THAT IT IS HEREBY DETERMINED AND ORDERED that said petition is granted and that the present Town of Lakeland be and It hereby is partitioned by forming a new Town from the territory of said present Town of Lakeland, to be called the Town of West Lakeland, and the remaining territory pf said fown <sic> to be called the Town of Lakeland, unless the majority of its voters decide otherwise, respectively, and so that the boundaries of the priginal <sic> Town of Lakeland shall b,e <sic> altered accordingly and two separate t,owns <sic> formed, each of which shall have the following boundaries and legal descriptions:” ……..
The first meeting and election of the Town of West Lakeland was held July 24, 1950. George Dornfield, Albert Harsdorf, and Frank See were elected as supervisors, Almon Berbermeyer was elected as clerk, and Milton Hess was elected as treasurer. Arvin Dornfield was elected as constable and Elmer Splinter and John Nelson were elected to be Justices of the Peace.
In 1951 the remaining Town of Lakeland incorporated to become the Village of Lakeland.
History of West Lakeland Township
https://www.wchsmn.org/west-lakeland-township/
History of Lakeland at WCHS
https://www.wchsmn.org/lakeland/
GLO Historic Plat Map Retrieval System
https://www.mngeo.state.mn.us/glo/index.html
1939 plat Township 29 Range 20 West - Baytown & Lakeland townships
https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4143wm.gla00083/?sp=9&r=-0.352,0.047,1.814,1.094,0
Notice that what is now the city of Lakeland was then part of Lakeland Township
1956 plat of Washington County see West Lakeland on page 15
https://www.washingtoncountymn.gov/DocumentCenter/View/1912/1956_platbook?bidId=
History of Washington County and the St. Croix Valley (pg 399)
https://www.google.com/books/edition/History_of_Washington_County_and_the_St/0OAwAQAAMAAJ?hl=en
Washington County Board minutes at MNHS
Volume L, January 1947-November 1954. Location 143.K.15.1B-1
http://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/gr01187.xml#a9
Volumes L-Z (dated 1947-April 1985) and Volume Nos. 3-28 (dated May 1989-June 2014) are indexed.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.
Topics: County government -- Minnesota -- Washington County.