A. Soule (the village of the same name, which encompasses a small part of its northern boundary, was platted on May 25, 1872).

[7][8] The name "Mountain Lake" itself is attributed to the township's earliest non-native inhabitant, William Mason.

As told on the city's (of the same name) website, “the first white settler to the area, William Mason, found a shallow 900-acre lake with three islands.

The top of the island was covered with trees which could be seen for many miles, thus serving as a land-mark and a guide for early settlers.

[5] Demand for tillable farmland and construction advances led to the lake's draining in the 1905–06 timeframe.

[9] The original lake's largest island – now a tree-covered hill amidst the surrounding farmland – has become a county park, which since 1973 been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

[10] Archeological evidence unearthed in a 1976 dig revealed remnants of a Meskwaki inhabitation from what could be as early as 500 B.C., making the former island's location within the township the oldest human habitation yet to be discovered in the state of Minnesota.

[11][12] On May 6, 1871, Daniel D. Bates and others presented a petition at the organizational board meeting held in the home of A.

"[7] Mennonite immigrants from Ukraine (at the time, Ukraine was part of Russia) began to arrive in the Mountain Lake area in 1873, having been recruited by William Seeger, a member of the Minnesota State Board of Immigration.

This forced them to adapt to American-style, single family farms and to live amongst their non-Mennonite neighbors.

As settlement continued, however, they soon established a successful and cohesive farming community, “based primarily on agriculture and local commerce.” Many of the township's current residents are descendants of these immigrants.