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Welcome to Shell Lake ...

The city of Shell Lake is located in Washburn County<1> and is the County Seat for Washburn County.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Shell Lake, you might consider that their post office opened in 1880.

A typical abbreviation for Shell Lake: Shell Lk.

From the  Census Estimates for 2019, Shell Lake has a population of 1,314 people<2> (see below for details).

Shell Lake is 1,210 feet [369 m] above sea level.<3>.

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

Area Codes for Shell Lake: 715 & 534<4>

The ZIP code for Shell Lake: 54871<5>

Population Details ...

Taken from the 2019 Census Estimates, Shell Lake had an population of 1,314 people. This is a decrease of 2.45% since the 2010 Census (or an increase of 0.38% since the 2000 Census).

At the time of the 2010 Census, Shell Lake had a population of 1,347 people (or 8.46% of the total population of Washburn County). This makes Shell Lake the county's 2nd most populous community.

The population of Shell Lake represents 0.02% of the population of Wisconsin (which has 5,686,986 people), making it the state's 652nd most populous community.

With a 2010 count of 1,347 people, the population of Shell Lake increased 2.9% from the 2000 Census (with a count of 1,309 people).

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

Communities Also Named Shell Lake ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 3 communities that are also named Shell Lake - they are located in Arkansas, Minnesota and Saskatchewan.

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

Communities near Shell Lake ...

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

  • Rice Lake
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Rice Lake is located in Barron County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rice Lake
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,498 people
  • Spooner
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Cumberland
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Cumberland is located in Barron County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cumberland
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,097 people
  • Birchwood
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Birchwood is located in Washburn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Birchwood
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 426 people
  • Haugen
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Haugen is located in Barron County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haugen
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 270 people
  • Bashaw
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Madge
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Nobleton
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Hertel
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Earl
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)

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 Shell Lake. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Shell Lake.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Shell 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 Shell Lake.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Shell Lake. Our list includes 5 papers. See our Newspapers Page for Shell Lake.

Adding Shell Lake to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Shell 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 Shell Lake was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<6>

From that list, the Shell Lake post office opened in 1880.

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

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of Wisconsin's counties, including Washburn, 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 Shell Lake.
<3>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Shell Lake - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<4>When there's a risk of an area code running out of phone numbers, an 'Overlay Area Code' is created that has the same geographic boundaries as the existing area code. In this case, the 715 code has been Overlayed with the 534 area code. New phone numbers in the Shell Lake area will be assigned with one of these codes: 715 or 534. As a result, placing a call in the Shell Lake area will require 10-digit dialing (where you enter both the area code and then the phone number).
<5>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 Shell Lake). When looking for a ZIP Code, whether Shell Lake or elsewhere, it's always best to check the website of the United States Postal Service (USPS).
<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/