Post Lake, WI

Post Lake is an unincorporated Langlade County community and census-designated place in the Town of Elcho, 12 miles southwest of Crandon. Its 343 residents in the 2020 census live in a place where the lake, not a traditional downtown, supplies the main reference point. Upper Post Lake covers roughly 765 acres and reaches across the Langlade-Oneida county line; the broader lake country is tied to fishing, swimming, seasonal cabins, and forest roads. A post office opened in 1884 and closed in 1913, leaving the name attached to the water and the surrounding settlement.

Elcho supplies the township framework, while local roads lead north toward Crandon and through Langlade's woods and farm country. The Post Lake Protection and Rehabilitation District reflects how residents organize around water quality and lake use. There is no incorporated village center here; the community's geography is its calling card: shoreline, boat landings, forest, and homes scattered near the water. Post Lake is a Northwoods place whose name sounds like a town but works more like a map of lakeside roads and shared water.