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Trails to the Past

Minnesota

Morrison County

 

 

 

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Its county seat is Little Falls.

First the Dakotah and then the Ojibwe Indians lived in the central Minnesota area around the Mississippi River. French and English fur traders and voyageurs traveled through Minnesota from the 17th century to the 19th century. They used the river to transport their goods and trade with the natives. The county was named for fur trading brothers, William and Allan Morrison.

Three prominent explorers lead expeditions along the river through the area that would be known as Morrison County in the 19th century. Zebulon Montgomery Pike came through in 1805. Governor Lewis B. Cass led an expedition through the area in 1820. Joseph N. Nicollet, explorer and scientist, had created the first accurate map of the area along the river in 1836.

Missionaries were some of the areas first European settlers. Methodist missionaries settled temporarily along the Little Elk River in 1838. The Reverend Frederic and Elisabeth (Taylor) Ayer moved to the Belle Prairie area in 1849. They started a mission and school there for the Ojibwe. Father Francis Xavier Pierz came to the area in 1852 and started many communities in central Minnesota, including Sobieski and Rich Prairie (later renamed Pierz) in Morrison County.

The event that prodded further development of the county was the building of Fort Ripley. In order to construct this military outpost, a dam and sawmill were erected in 1849 by the Little Falls Mill and Land Company. This company was formed by James Green, Allan Morrison, Henry M. Rice, John Irvine, John Blair Smith Todd, and Napoleon Jackson Tecumseh Dana. Fort Ripley was built ostensibly to protect the Winnebago Indians, who had been relocated by Henry Rice from Iowa to central Minnesota west of the Mississippi River, between the Crow Wing and Long Prairie rivers. Rice hoped the Winnebago would act as a buffer between the warring Ojibwe and Dakotah Indians. His plan was unsuccessful and the Winnebago were moved to the Blue Earth River in southern Minnesota in 1855.

Little Falls, the county seat, sprung up when a second dam was built by the Little Falls Company (later called the Little Falls Manufacturing Company). This dam washed out, as the first had done, and Little Falls entered a long period of economic depression and stagnation as far as population growth. Bit by bit, Little Falls grew, until it was officially incorporated as a village in 1879.

Another wave of immigration occurred between 1880 and 1920. A wide variety of ethnic groups chose Morrison County for their new home. This wave of immigration was spurred by the construction of the third dam at Little Falls in 1887. A group of investors from Louisville, Kentucky, led by M. M. Williams, provided the financing for this dam. They wanted to be sure their investment was successful. To this end, they worked to encourage other major industries to locate in the city, touting the water power as a prime feature.

Pine Tree Lumber Company, run by Charles A. Weyerhaeuser and Richard "Drew" Musser, was one such business that took advantage of the water power, with their operations in Little Falls beginning in 1890. Hennepin Paper Company also started operations that year in the city.

The Louisville, Kentucky, investors were also responsible for drawing up a charter to transform Little Falls from a village to a city. This occurred in 1889, with Nathan Richardson, one of the original organizers of Morrison County, becoming the first mayor of the new city.

On Line Data

Cities
Bowlus
Buckman
Elmdale
Flensburg
Genola
Harding
Hillman
Lastrup
Little Falls (county seat)
Motley
Pierz
Royalton
Randall
Sobieski
Swanville
Upsala
Unincorporated communities
Belle Prairie
Center Valley
Cushing
Darling
Freedhem
Gregory
Lincoln
Little Rock
Morrill
North Prairie
Platte
Ramey
Shamineau Park
Sullivan
Vawter
Townships
Agram Township
Belle Prairie Township
Bellevue Township
Buckman Township
Buh Township
Culdrum Township
Cushing Township
Darling Township
Elmdale Township
Granite Township
Green Prairie Township
Hillman Township
Lakin Township
Leigh Township
Little Falls Township
Morrill Township
Motley Township
Mount Morris Township
Parker Township
Pierz Township
Pike Creek Township
Platte Township
Pulaski Township
Rail Prairie Township
Richardson Township
Ripley Township
Rosing Township
Scandia Valley Township
Swan River Township
Swanville Township
Two Rivers Township

 

Adjacent counties
Cass County (north)
Crow Wing County (northeast)
Mille Lacs County (east)
Benton County (southeast)
Stearns County
(south)
Todd County
(west)

 

Morrison County Courthouse

 

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