Rice Lake--Old Village and Church

Rice Lake--Old Village and Church. . Rice Lake and its surrounding area were popular among early Indians for the abundance of good hunting and the wild rice that grew in the shallow lake waters. Women of the Winnebago tribe harvested the rice even after the first white settlers arrived., The village of Rice Lake was already thriving in 1855, when Dodge County was established. In 1857 the Methodists organized the Rice Lake Church, and a post office was established. Located on a well-traveled road, the village had numerous businesses, some of which were blacksmith, barber, wagon and bootmaker shops, sorghum mills, photograph galleries, general stores, and doctors' offices together with frontier cabins, stage stops. taverns, and a hotel., With the prospect of new growth to be brought by the Winona and St. Peter Railroad, an extensive townsite addition was platted. The future looked bright until, in 1865, the railroad chose a route several miles away. Thereafter the village stopped growing, gradually declined, and eventually disappeared., The Rice Lake Church, one of the first houses of worship in the area, was later used by other denominations. Today it is the last remaining building of the old village of Rice Lake. . This historical marker was erected in 1976 by the Rice Lake Church Restoration and Preservation Group as an American Revolution Bicentennial Project. It is Near Claremont in Dodge County Minnesota