Trails to the Past would appreciate any genealogy information that you may have such as news items, wills, deaths, births, biographies etc. if you have any of these items they can be emailed to Marie Miller the state of Minnesota Adminstrator

The hardwood-forested hills in which Elk River is situated were pushed up by the last glacier that advanced across Minnesota. These hills are made up of coarse materials which is the reason gravel mining is so prevalent in Elk River, and also the reason much of the area is not considered good farmland.

To the south of Elk River lies the prairie. This natural boundary between the prairie and woods was also a boundary between Indian nations. Two battles between the Dakota and Ojibwe took place where the Elk River meets the Mississippi in 1772 and 1773.

The Elk River Water Tower was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.

Zebulon Pike passed through the area on his 1805 exploration of the upper Mississippi River and named the Elk River after the herds of elk he saw in the area. David Frederic Faribault, son of French-Canadian fur trader Jean-Baptiste Faribault built a trading post near the conjunction of the Elk and Mississippi Rivers in 1846, which he later sold, in 1848, to French trader and guide Pierre Bottineau. The trading post stood on a bluff just east of the present day bridge across the Elk River on main street. Bottineau also built a hotel in 1850 on the bank of the Mississippi about a half mile below the mouth of the Elk. The two rivers and the Red River Trail, which passed nearby, made this area a good location for commerce.

A large number of early settlers came from Maine and nearly all of them were experts in lumbering. In 1851, Ard Godfrey, a native of Orono, Maine, saw the potential of the water power of the Elk River and built a dam and a sawmill. His dam created the first lobe of Lake Orono (called the Mill Pond), which extended from the present day dam to Orono Cemetery Point. In 1855, the area by the dam was platted and the town of Orono (known as Upper Town) was created.

In the latter half of the 19th century, agriculture and dairy farming replaced lumber as the base of Elk River's economy. Grist mills and a starch factory, which took advantage of the potato fields to the west, were built.

The Orono Dam was destroyed by an ice storm in 1912, but hydropower gave a new incentive to dam the Elk River in 1915. This new dam created the four lobes of Lake Orono as we know it today. In 1916, the Village of Elk River received electricity for the first time. The entire township of Elk River would not get electricity until after World War II.

On Line Data

Cities Becker Big Lake Clear Lake Elk River (county seat) Princeton St. Cloud Zimmerman Unincorporated communities Bailey Briggs Lake Cable Orrock Salida Santiago

Townships Baldwin Township Becker Township Big Lake Township Blue Hill Township Clear Lake Township Haven Township Livonia Township Orrock Township Palmer Township Santiago Township

Webspace for this site has been generously provided by Genealogy Village and Access Genealogy Thank You!