Wawina is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in Wawina Township,

Itasca County Itasca County (pronounced eye-ta-ska) is located in the U.S. state, State of Minnesota. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 45,014. Its county seat is Grand Rapids, Minnesota, Grand Rapids. The county is named af ...

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 ...

, United States. The community is located between Grand Rapids and Floodwood at the junction of U.S. Highway 2 and Itasca County Road 25. Nearby places include Floodwood, Swan River,

Warba Warba is a city in Itasca County, Minnesota, Itasca County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 181 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. U.S. Route 2 in Minnesota, U.S. Highway 2 serves as a main route in the community. Histo ...

, Jacobson, and Goodland. Wawina is located 13 miles northwest of Floodwood. Wawina is also located 23 miles southeast of Grand Rapids; and 53 miles northwest of

Duluth , settlement_type = City , nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City , motto = , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...

. The boundary line between Itasca, Saint Louis, and Aitkin counties is nearby. The community of Wawina is located within Wawina Township (population 77). ZIP Codes 55736 (Floodwood) and 55784 (Swan River) meet at Wawina.

History

A post office called Wawina was established in 1912, and remained in operation until 1993. Wawina is a name derived from the

Ojibwe language Ojibwe , also known as Ojibwa , Ojibway, Otchipwe,R. R. Bishop Baraga, 1878''A Theoretical and Practical Grammar of the Otchipwe Language''/ref> Ojibwemowin, or Anishinaabemowin, is an indigenous language of North America of the Algonquian lan ...

''waawiinaa'' meaning "I mention him often" from ''wiinzh'' meaning "mention him/her".

Culture

Wawina has the distinction of having America's smallest telephone company. Northern Telephone Company of Minnesota (Area Code 218–488) serves fewer than 40 subscribers. It gained brief fame as the last place in the continental United States to use a trunking system (inter-office circuits) that was called "N2 Carrier", an analog system that utilized Multi-Frequency (MF) tones and the infamous

2600 Hz A blue box is an electronic device that produces tones used to generate the in-band signaling tones formerly used within the North American long-distance telephone network to send line status and called number information over voice circuits. ...

control tone for answer supervision and idle trunk condition. This system was much loved by phone

phreak Phreaking is a slang term coined to describe the activity of a culture of people who study, experiment with, or explore telecommunication systems, such as equipment and systems connected to public telephone networks. The term ''phreak'' is a ...

s as it was the same system which the now infamous

John Draper John Thomas Draper (born March 11, 1943), also known as Captain Crunch, Crunch, or Crunchman (after the Cap'n Crunch breakfast cereal mascot), is an American computer programmer and former phone phreak. He is a widely known figure within the ...

made famous. The era ended in June 2006, when the privately owned exchange switched to a digital trunk. Phone hacking attempts from across the nation had placed a large burden on the extremely small telephone company serving Wawina Township.

References

* Rand McNally Road Atlas – 2007 edition – Minnesota entry * Official State of Minnesota Highway Map – 2011/2012 edition * Mn/DOT map of Itasca County – Sheet 1 – 2011 edition {{authority control Unincorporated communities in Minnesota Unincorporated communities in Itasca County, Minnesota