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Home >> State of South Dakota >> Clark County >> Willow LakeIndex...

Welcome to Willow Lake ...

The city of Willow Lake is located in Clark County<1>.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Willow Lake, you might consider that their post office opened in 1882.

A typical abbreviation for Willow Lake: Willow Lk.

From the  Census Estimates for 2019, Willow Lake has a population of 242 people<2> (see below for details).

Willow Lake is 1,770 feet [539 m] above sea level.<3>.

Time Zone: Willow Lake lies in the Central Time Zone (CST/CDT) and observes daylight saving time

Area Code for Willow Lake: 605

The ZIP code for Willow Lake: 57278<4>

Population Details ...

Taken from the 2019 Census Estimates, Willow Lake had an population of 242 people. This is a decrease of 7.98% since the 2010 Census (or a decrease of 17.69% since the 2000 Census).

At the time of the 2010 Census, Willow Lake had a population of 263 people (which is 7.11% of the total population of Clark County). This makes Willow Lake the county's 2nd most populous community.

The population of Willow Lake represents 0.03% of the total population of South Dakota (which has 814,180 people), making it the state's 219th most populous community.

With a 2010 count of 263 people, the population of Willow Lake decreased 10.54% from the 2000 Census (with a count of 294 people).

More information can be found on the Census Page for Willow Lake.

Communities Also Named Willow Lake ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 6 communities that are also named Willow Lake - they are located in Alaska, Georgia (2), Ontario, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Willow Lake.

Communities near Willow Lake ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Willow Lake.

  • Success ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Success is located in Clark County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Success
    • Estimated population in 2014: 6,741 people
  • Clark
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
  • De Smet
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
  • Bryant
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Henry
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Henry is located in Codington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Henry
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 264 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Henry <5>
  • Elrod
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Elrod is located in Clark County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elrod
    • Estimated population in 2014: 92 people
  • Osceola
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Osceola is located in Kingsbury County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Osceola
    • Estimated population in 2014: 90 people
  • Hazel
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Manchester
    (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Manchester is located in Kingsbury County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manchester
    • Estimated population in 2014: 65 people
  • Merton ‑ Historic
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Merton is located in Clark County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merton
    • Estimated population in 2014: 55 people

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Willow Lake. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Willow Lake.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Willow Lake. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Willow Lake.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Willow Lake. See our Newspapers Page for Willow Lake.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Willow Lake ...

Looking for more information about Willow Lake? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

In addition to the Tourism page for Willow Lake, there are neighboring communities that also have Tourism pages. More information about those communities can be found on our TripAdvisor Page for Willow Lake.

Adding Willow Lake to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Willow Lake in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found (so far) for Willow Lake was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<6>

From that list, the Willow Lake post office opened in 1882.

For more details, see References and Mentions for Willow Lake.

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of South Dakota's counties, including Clark, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>Population counts have been provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. For more detail, please visit our Census Page for Willow Lake.
<3>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Willow Lake - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<4>ZIP Codes have been created by the United States Postal Service (USPS) as a way of grouping addresses to make delivery more efficient. The boundaries of the ZIP Code can be changed, re-assigned, eliminated or overlapped with other ZIP Codes. So keep in mind that any given ZIP Code is only 'loosely' associated with a city (such as Willow Lake). When looking for a ZIP Code, whether Willow Lake or elsewhere, it's always best to check the website of the United States Postal Service (USPS).
<5>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<6>A copy of the Blevins & Helbock Post Office list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/