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Rice Lake

Ghost town · Steele County, Minnesota

Owatonna SE quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1962, 1:24,000)
Owatonna SE quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1962, 1:24,000) · U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain

Rice Lake is a ghost town in Steele County, Minnesota. It is the only former community in Steele County recorded on the federal names register, out of 85 across Minnesota.

The U.S. Geological Survey lists Rice Lake as a historical populated place: the name is no longer in official use for a community, whether the settlement was abandoned, absorbed into a neighbouring town or renamed. The recorded location is 44.1106° N, 93.0461° W.

Key facts

Elevation1,276 ft
Nearest living townClaremont, MN
Distance to it5.1 miles
Coordinates44.11060, -93.04610

Open the location on a map

What's there now

Rice Lake is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Claremont, MN (population 554), about 5.1 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 1,276 feet above sea level. Much of the land around former townsites is private; check access before you visit.

Images

Rice Lake Church near Rice Lake State Park in Minnesota
Rice Lake Church near Rice Lake State Park in Minnesota · McGhiever / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.5

Nearby places

Sources and licences

Facts marked "approximately" carry an uncertain date in the source. Text on this page is generated from the sources above; no encyclopedia prose is copied. Last updated 2026-11-05.