Clear Lake, MN

Clear Lake is a Sherburne County city in central Minnesota, about thirteen miles southeast of St. Cloud and twenty-four miles northwest of Elk River. The 2020 census counted 641 residents. U.S. Highway 10 and Minnesota Highway 24 carry the main through traffic, while city hall, water and sewer services, a maintenance department, fire protection, churches, the post office, and nearby medical offices cover the local service map. Clearview Elementary is the city school address within St. Cloud Area School District 742, which serves the larger surrounding area.

The community was organized in the nineteenth century, and Clear Lake was platted in 1879 near the railroad station established in 1867. Early town life gathered around a hall, hotel, stores, blacksmith shop, and grain elevator. Today the city sits in the traffic corridor between St. Cloud and the Twin Cities, with farm roads and highway businesses meeting newer housing and services. The lake name belongs to the wider township landscape, while the incorporated city is defined by Highway 10, the Highway 24 junction, the school route, and civic buildings along its streets.