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Crow Wing county was established on May 23, 1857 and organized March 3, 1870. It is named for the Crow Wing River, which is itself named for an island in the river which is shaped like the wing of a crow.

Twenty years or more before the county was outlined and named, a trading post was established on the east side of the Mississippi River opposite the mouth of the Crow Wing River. In 1837 there was again a station of the fur traders facing the northern mouth of the Crow Wing River. A few years later it became the center of Indian trading and had the general supply store for the area. By 1866, the village contained about 600 whites and Chippewas and was one of the major population centers in Minnesota. Although the county seat, Crow Wing was soon superseded by Brainerd and eventually became a ghost town known as Old Crow Wing, its memory is preserved by Crow Wing State Park.

Brainerd township was founded in 1870 when the Northern Pacific survey determined that the crossing of the Mississippi should be there. It became a city on November 19, 1881. The name was chosen in honor of the father in law of J. Gregory Smith, the first president of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company. Skeptical of Town's Growth Ex-governor Smith of Vermont may properly be called the father and founder of Brainerd. He gave it the name of his father-in-law, Lawrence Brainerd, the first president of the Vermont Central, has given it a memorial Congregational Church, which is now nearly completed, and had he continued president of the Northern Pacific would have undoubtedly dealt kindly and liberally by the town.

The Northern Pacific Railroad ran its first train to Brainerd, a special train, on March 11, 1871 and its regular passenger service began the next September. The first passenger train from the Twin Cities, by way of Sauk Rapids, came November 1, 1877.

The part of Crow Wing County west of the Mississippi was annexed from Cass County by an act of the Legislature on February 18, 1887, doubling its former area.

On Line Data

Cities Baxter Brainerd (county seat) Breezy Point Crosby Crosslake Cuyuna Deerwood Emily Fifty Lakes Fort Ripley Garrison Irontaon Jenkins Manhattan Beach Nisswa Pequot Lakes Riverton Trommald Census-designated place Merrifield Other unincorporated communities Barrows Bay Lake Crosby Beach Crow Wing Ideal Corners Iron Hub Klondyke Lake Hubert Legionville Little Pine Loerch Mission Pine Center Shephard St. Mathias Swanburg Wolford Woodrow Unorganized territories Dean Lake West Crow Wing Original settlement Old Crow Wing

Townships Bay Lake Township Center Township Crow Wing Township Daggett Brook Township Deerwood Township Fairfield Township Fort Ripley Township Gail Lake Township Garrison Township Ideal Township Irondale Township Jenkins Township Lake Edwards Township Little Pine Township Long Lake Township Maple Grove Township Mission Township Nokay Lake Township Oak Lawn Township Pelican Township Perry Lake Township Platte Lake Township Rabbit Lake Township Roosevelt Township Ross Lake Township Sibley Township St. Mathias Township Timothy Township Wolford Township

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