By Jennifer Gallus
Staff Writer

The year 2008 will officially usher in the 130th anniversary of the City of Howard Lake. Howard Lake became an organized city in 1878, and has been growing ever since.

In fact, once the village of Howard Lake became incorporated in 1878, it had an election Aug. 29 of that year for city officials. The following officers were elected 130 years ago as a result: President C.E. Carter; Trustees Charles Goodsell, Johnathan Smith, and John F. Pearson; Treasurer H.E. Jones; Justice of the Peace F.E. Latham; Recorder Eugene Johnston; and Constable C.W. Fogle.

A party of government surveyors, who studied the six-mile shore of the lake, which was heavily wooded with sugar maple groves, named the lake Howard Lake in the 1850s after the philanthropist John Howard, reported the Howard Lake Herald May 8, 1890.

Some significant points of interest in time for Howard Lake include the fire in 1904 at the original city hall, that is the one that was built before the current historic city hall; the acquisition in 1883 of the city hosting the Wright County Fair; baseball fanfare that dates back to 1905 starting with the Independent Town Baseball Team to current day Orphan baseball; the city being widely known as the “Strawberry Capital of the World” post World War II; and the current construction of a new Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted High School.

A new history book about Howard Lake is in the construction phase and due to be published in May of 2008. This book will cover the history of the city from 1878 to 2008.

To commemorate this historical anniversary, the city plans to incorporate unique events, and possibly contests, into the 2008 Good Neighbor Days celebration.