Brainerd, Minnesota

The area that is now Brainerd was traditionally territory inhabited by the Ojibwe. Brainerd was first seen by European settlers on Christmas Day in 1805, when Zebulon Pike stopped there while searching for the headwaters of the Mississippi River. Crow Wing Village, a fur and logging community near Fort Ripley, brought settlers to the area in the mid-19th century.

In those early years, the relationship between the settlers and the Native Americans was complicated. The most famous example of this tenuous relationship was the so-called "Blueberry War" of 1872. Two Ojibwe were hanged for allegedly murdering a missing girl. When a group of Native Americans approached the town, troops from nearby Fort Ripley were called to prevent a potential reprisal. As it turned out, however, the Ojibwe only wanted to sell blueberries and the settlers avoided a bloody misunderstanding. Guilt of the two Native Americans was never proven.

The water tower along
Minnesota Highway 210 in downtown Brainerd serves as a symbol of the community and appears on the city's seal

Brainerd was the idea of Northern Pacific railroad president John Gregory Smith, who in 1870 named the township after his wife, Anne Eliza Brainerd Smith, and father-in-law, Lawrence Brainerd. The company built a bridge over the Mississippi seven miles north of Crow Wing Village and used the Brainerd station as a machine and car shop, prompting many to move north and abandon Crow Wing. Brainerd was organized as a city on March 6, 1873.[7]

On January 11, 1876, the state legislature revoked Brainerd's charter for six years, as a reaction to the election of local handyman Thomas Lanihan as mayor instead of Judge C.B. Sleeper. Brainerd functioned as a township in the interim.

In 1881, the railroad, and with it the town, expanded. Lumber and paper, as well as agriculture in general, were important early industries, but for many decades Brainerd remained a railroad town: in the 1920s roughly 90 percent of Brainerd residents were dependent on the railroad. Participation in the nationwide railroad strike on July 1, 1922, left the majority of Brainerd residents unemployed and embittered many of those involved.

On October 27, 1933, the First National Bank of Brainerd became briefly famous when it was held up by Baby Face Nelson and his gang.

Over the years, increased efficiency and the better positioning of the more centralized Livingston, Montana, shops led to a decline in the importance of a railroad station that once employed over 1000 and serviced locomotives for the whole Northern Pacific line. The BNSF Railway (successor to the Northern Pacific) continues to employ approximately 70 people in Brainerd at a maintenance-of-way equipment shop responsible for performing repairs and preventive maintenance to track and equipment. The former Northern Pacific railway station has now been converted to breweries, coffee shops, and event centers available to rent for special occasions.

The Northwest Paper Company built Brainerd's first paper mill in 1903 and with the steady increase in tourism since the early 20th century the paper and service industries have become Brainerd's primary employers. The town's coating mill was sold by Potlatch to Missota Paper in 2003 and then by Missota Paper to Wausau Paper in 2004. It is now used as a small industrial center called Brainerd Industrial Center (BIC).

Due to the many lakes in the area, Brainerd had become a popular summertime destination for those owning cabins in the area better known as the Brainerd Lakes. Brainerd itself is now heavily developed into commercial and residential areas and has seen an uptick in development in recent years.

Brainerd is located just north of the geographical center of Minnesota in a relatively hilly terminal moraine area created by the Superior Lobe of the Labradorian ice sheet. The town occupies land on both sides of the Mississippi River, though the older parts of Brainerd are almost all to the east.

Though the city itself has relatively few lakes, there are over 460 lakes within 25 miles (40 km) of Brainerd, located mostly to the north. For this reason, Crow Wing County and parts of the adjoining counties are often collectively referred to as the Brainerd Lakes Area.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 12.64 square miles (32.74 km²), of which 11.91 square miles (30.85 km²) is land and 0.73 square miles (1.89 km²) is water.[8]

Brainerd has been assigned ZIP code 56401 by the USPS.

Brainerd has many trees and forests around the area, including Crow Wing State Park.

Crow Wing State Park

The Burlington Northern (Brainerd/Baxter) United States Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site is located on the boundary between the cities of Brainerd and Baxter. The site served as a Burlington Northern Railroad tie treatment plant, between the years of 1907 and 1985. During that time, wastewater generated from the wood-treating process was sent to two shallow, unlined ponds. This created a toxic sludge which contaminated both the underlying soils and the groundwater with creosote and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).[9]

Radio stations, television channels, and fine arts in the Brainerd Lakes Area.

Though taking its title from the nearby city in North Dakota, the Coen brothers' 1996 film Fargo was set partly in Brainerd. However, production took place in throughout the Twin Cities area with Hallock, Minnesota substituting for Brainerd.[18]

• Roger Awsumb (1928–2002), TV and radio show host
• Win Borden (1943–2014), Minnesota state senator[19]
• Bullet Joe Bush (1892–1974), professional baseball player
• Joe Haeg (1993), professional football player
• Frank B. Johnson (1894–1949), Mayor of Brainerd and Minnesota state representative[20]
• Rick Nolan (1943), United States Representative

Brainerd International Raceway

• Paul Bunyan State Trail
• Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area
• Northland Arboretum
• Brainerd International Raceway

• Burlington Northern (Brainerd/Baxter)
• List of Superfund sites in Minnesota

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brainerd, Minnesota.

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Brainerd.

• City of Brainerd, MN – Official Website
• Brainerd History site
• Explore Brainerd Lakes.com – Visitor Information and official Chamber website
• Brainerd.com - The Official Brainerd Lakes Area Tourism Information Website