[4] It is named after the nearby body of water called Devils Lake.

The present site of Devils Lake was, historically, a territory of the Dakota people.

[9][10] The name "Devils Lake" is a calque of the Dakota phrase mni wak’áŋ (literally translating to spirit water),[11] which is also reflected in the names of the Spirit Lake Tribe and the nearby town of Minnewaukan.

The Dakota called the lake mni wak’áŋ, which separately translates as mni (water) and wak’áŋ (literally meaning "pure source" but often translated as "spirit" or "sacred").

The "bad" referred to the high salinity of the lake, making it unfit to drink, and "spirit" referenced the mirages often seen across the water.

The Christian concept of the devil was not present in the Dakota philosophy and religious practices.

[8] It was founded by Lieutenant Heber M. Creel, a West Point graduate and topographical engineer stationed at nearby Fort Totten.

The name was later changed to Creel City and expanded by the Great Northern Railway.

[1][12] During a period of increased rainfall, beginning in the 1990s and unprecedented in the history of North Dakota, caused the nearby lake, which has no natural outlet, to rise.

The surface area has quadrupled, and the higher water has resulted in the moving or destruction of over 400 houses.

[2] Like all of North Dakota, Devils Lake has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) with very cold winters with frequent light snowfall, and warm to very warm, wetter summers with most rain from convective thunderstorms.

During the 1936 North American cold wave, the town was one of the coldest places south of the Canada–US border, averaging −21 °F or −29.4 °C for the five weeks ending February 21, 1936[15] (though at a different site from that now in use).

The top 6 ancestry groups in the city are German (43.9%), Norwegian (33.4%), Irish (7.6%), French (4.7%), Swedish (4.5%), English (2.7%).

Amtrak, the U.S. national passenger rail system, serves Devils Lake, operating its Empire Builder daily in both directions between Chicago and Seattle and Portland, Oregon.