Central Minnesota is the central part of the state of
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
. No definitive boundaries of the region exist, but most definitions would include the land north of
Interstate 94, east of
U.S. Highway 59, south of
U.S. Highway 2, and west of
U.S. Highway 169.
Geography
The northern part of the region contains many
softwood forests, including the expansive
Chippewa National Forest
Chippewa National Forest is a National Forest located in north central Minnesota, United States, in the counties of Itasca, Cass and Beltrami. Forest headquarters are located in Cass Lake, Minnesota. There are local ranger district offices i ...
. The western and southern parts are dotted with
rolling prairie, and have the region's largest agricultural operations. The region's eastern part has many
hardwood and
softwood forests, and once had rich
iron ore deposits. The now depleted
Cuyuna Range, which formed the southwestern border of the large
Iron Range
The term Iron Range refers collectively or individually to a number of elongated iron-ore mining districts around Lake Superior in the United States and Canada. Much of the ore-bearing region lies alongside the range of granite hills formed by ...
, was near
Crosby Crosby may refer to:
Places
;Canada
*Crosby, Ontario, part of the township of Rideau Lakes, Ontario
*Crosby, Ontario, a neighbourhood in the city of Markham, Ontario
;England
*Crosby, Cumbria
*Crosby, Lincolnshire
*Crosby, Merseyside
** Crosby (U ...
and
Ironton, at the region's eastern edge.
One thing all of central Minnesota has is abundant lakes. A typical image of central Minnesota includes the many large and small lakes that surround the cities of
St. Cloud (by far the region's largest city),
Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...
,
Brainerd, and other settlements.
Two lakes in the region,
Mille Lacs Lake
Mille Lacs Lake (also called Lake Mille Lacs or Mille Lacs) is a large but shallow lake in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is located in the counties of Mille Lacs, Aitkin, and Crow Wing, roughly 75 miles north of the Minneapolis-St. Paul m ...
, with an area of 206 mi² (534 km²), and
Leech Lake
Leech Lake is a lake located in north central Minnesota, United States. It is southeast of Bemidji, located mainly within the Leech Lake Indian Reservation, and completely within the Chippewa National Forest. It is used as a reservoir. The lake ...
, with an area of 175 mi² (453 km²), are, respectively, the second- and third-largest lakes entirely within Minnesota. The
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...
winds extensively through the region from its source at
Lake Itasca
Lake Itasca is a small glacial lake, approximately in area. Located in southeastern Clearwater County, in the Headwaters area of north central Minnesota, it is notable for being the headwater of the Mississippi River. The lake is in Itasca Sta ...
.
Area high school athletic conferences acknowledge the region's location and natural geography with names including Central Lake
Granite Ridge Conference, Granite Ridge, Great River
Heart O'Lake
Mid-Stat
and Pine to Prairi
Economy
Central Minnesota's economy, like that of the United States as a whole, has recently shifted away from agriculture and mining toward industry and service. But agriculture is still important in the region, especially the southern and western parts, where the land and soil is conducive to crops such as
maize, corn and
soybean
The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses.
Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu a ...
s.
Dairy farms also dot the region in areas where crops cannot easily be grown, but their numbers have been drastically dwindling in recent years. Paper companies own expansive amounts of land in the region's heavily forested eastern and northern parts, but
logging activity has long since peaked. Paper production mills continue to operate in
Brainerd and
Sartell.
Tourism has become an important industry in the region in the last few decades, fueled largely by its lakes. Many of the region's cities see their populations swell in the summer, when people from the larger metropolitan areas of
Minneapolis/St. Paul,
Duluth
, settlement_type = City
, nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City
, motto =
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...
,
Fargo, and
Grand Forks
Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the state of North Dakota (after Fargo and Bismarck) and the county seat of Grand Forks County. According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 59,166. Grand Forks, along with its twin city o ...
come to enjoy fishing and other outdoor activities on the region's lakes. The cluster of lakes around Brainerd known as the Brainerd Lakes Area are probably the best-known, thanks in part to the many Twin Cities residents who own cabins or land on or near the area's biggest lakes. In addition, several esteemed resorts are on
Gull Lake.
Culture
The ethnic makeup of central Minnesota is largely representative of the first settlers who came to the region. People of
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
and
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...
n heritage are the majority of the region's residents, though there is also a sizable
Native American population. Two of the state's largest
reservations, the
Leech Lake Indian Reservation
The Leech Lake Reservation (''Gaa-zagaskwaajimekaag'' in the Ojibwe language) is an Indian reservation located in the north-central Minnesota counties of Cass, Itasca, Beltrami, and Hubbard. The reservation forms the land base for the federally ...
and the
White Earth Indian Reservation
The White Earth Indian Reservation ( oj, Gaa-waabaabiganikaag, "Where there is an abundance of white clay") is the home to
the White Earth Band, located in northwestern Minnesota. It is the largest Indian reservation in the state by land area. T ...
, are in central Minnesota, as is the small
Mille Lacs Indian Reservation
Mille Lacs Indian Reservation is the popular name for the land-base for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe in Central Minnesota, about 100 miles (160 km) north of Minneapolis-St. Paul. The contemporary Mille Lacs Band reservation has significant ...
, along the southern shore of
Mille Lacs Lake
Mille Lacs Lake (also called Lake Mille Lacs or Mille Lacs) is a large but shallow lake in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is located in the counties of Mille Lacs, Aitkin, and Crow Wing, roughly 75 miles north of the Minneapolis-St. Paul m ...
, from near
Garrison to
Isle.
The 1996 film ''
Fargo'' and its
television series
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...
are largely set in the region's cities of Brainerd and Bemidji, but central Minnesotans' accents are not as pronounced as those in the franchise. The central Minnesotan
dialect
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena:
One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...
resembles that of the entire
Upper Midwest
The Upper Midwest is a region in the northern portion of the U.S. Census Bureau's Midwestern United States. It is largely a sub-region of the Midwest. Although the exact boundaries are not uniformly agreed-upon, the region is defined as referring ...
.
Cities
Central Minnesota is home to one
MSA and one
μSA.
St. Cloud MSA (pop. 192,510)
*
Saint Cloud (pop. 66,389)
*
Sartell (pop. 16,523)
*
Sauk Rapids (pop. 13,348)
*
Waite Park
Waite Park is a city in Stearns County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 8,341 at the 2020 census. It is part of the St. Cloud Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
Waite Park was incorporated in 1893. The city was named for He ...
(pop. 7,469)
*
St. Joseph (pop. 6,820)
*
St. Augusta (pop. 3,545)
Brainerd μSA (pop. 91,067)
*
Brainerd (pop. 13,349)
*
Baxter (pop. 8,198)
Other Central Minnesota cities include:
*
Bemidji
Bemidji ( ) is a city and the county seat of Beltrami County, Minnesota, Beltrami County, in northern Minnesota, United States. The population was 14,574 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. According to 2021 census estimates, the city ...
(pop. 15,404)
*
Elk River (pop. 25,835)
*
Fergus Falls (pop. 13,419) (one county east of the
Wahpeton, ND μSA)
*
Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...
(pop. 13,568)
*
Detroit Lakes (pop. 9,165) (one county east of the
Fargo-Moorhead MSA)
*
Little Falls (pop. 8,689)
Higher education
Central Minnesota is home to the following colleges and universities:
Four-year colleges
*
College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University
*
St. Cloud State University
*
University of Minnesota Morris
The University of Minnesota Morris (UMN Morris) is a public liberal arts college in Morris, Minnesota. It is part of the University of Minnesota system and was founded in 1960 as a public, co-educational, residential liberal arts college offering ...
Two-year colleges
*
Alexandria Technical and Community College
*
Central Lakes College
Central Lakes College is a public community college with campuses in Brainerd and Staples, Minnesota. It is part of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System. The college was formed from the merger of three different colleges: Braine ...
*
Minnesota State Community and Technical College
Minnesota State Community and Technical College (M State) is a public community and technical college with multiple campuses in Minnesota. The college is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. It offers more than 70 ...
(Detroit Lakes, Fergus Falls, and Wadena campuses)
*
Northwest Technical College
*
St. Cloud Technical and Community College
Notable residents
Notable people who hail from central Minnesota, with the names of cities they grew up in listed in parentheses, include:
*
Brian Kobilka
Brian Kent Kobilka (born May 30, 1955) is an American physiologist and a recipient of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Robert Lefkowitz for discoveries that reveal the workings of G protein-coupled receptors. He is currently a professor in ...
(
Little Falls)
*
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...
(
Little Falls)
*
Sinclair Lewis
Harry Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American writer and playwright. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States (and the first from the Americas) to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, which was ...
(
Sauk Centre)
*
Eugene McCarthy (
Watkins)
*
Gig Young
Gig Young (born Byron Elsworth Barr; November 4, 1913 – October 19, 1978) was an American actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performances in ''Come Fill the Cup'' (1952) and '' Teacher's Pet'' ...
(
St. Cloud)
*
Lesley J. McNair
Lesley James McNair (May 25, 1883 – July 25, 1944) was a senior United States Army officer who served during World War I and World War II. He attained the rank of lieutenant general during his life; he was killed in action during World War I ...
(
Verndale)
External links
Exploreminnesota.com guide to cities in central portion of stateCharles Lindbergh State Historic SiteJudy Garland MuseumLake Itasca Region Pioneer Farmers
Convention and visitors bureaus in the region
Alexandria Convention and Visitors BureauBemidji Convention and Visitors BureauBrainerd Convention and Visitors BureauDetroit Lakes Convention and Visitors BureauFergus Falls Convention and Visitors BureauGrand Rapids Convention and Visitors BureauLittle Falls Convention and Visitors BureauSaint Cloud Convention and Visitors BureauWadena Chamber of Commerce
{{Coord, 47, N, 95, W, display=title
Regions of Minnesota