Crow Wing County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

in the East Central part of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 66,123. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

is Brainerd. The county was formed in 1857, and was organized in 1870. Crow Wing County is included in the Brainerd, MN Micropolitan Statistical Area.

History

This area was long occupied by the

Ojibwe people The Ojibwe (; syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the northern plains, extending into the subarctic and thr ...

, also known as Chippewa. In addition, numerous

Dakota people The Dakota (pronounced , or ) are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe (Native American), tribe and First Nations in Canada, First Nations band government in North America. They compose two of the three main subcultur ...

lived in central and southern Minnesota before European settlement. European Americans established a trading post by 1837 in this area, on the east side of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

opposite the mouth of the Crow Wing River. The post (named Crow Wing) soon became a center of trading with the region's Native Americans, with a general-supply store that served the area. By 1866, the village contained about 600 whites and Chippewa; it was a major population center. The territorial government enacted the county's creation on May 23, 1857, and named Crow Wing the county seat. The governmental structure of the county was not effected until March 3, 1870. The county was named for the river, which is named for an island in the river that resembles a crow's wing. Brainerd township was founded in 1870 when the

Northern Pacific Railroad The Northern Pacific Railway was an important American transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the Western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest between 1864 and 1970. It was approved and chartered b ...

selected the site for a crossing of the

. It attracted development and population, soon surpassing Crow Wing. It was also designated as the new county seat, drawing off more residents and businesses from what became known as a ghost town, Old Crow Wing. Crow Wing State Park encompasses much of the former village site along the river. Brainerd City was incorporated on November 19, 1881, named for Lawrence Brainerd, the father-in-law of J. Gregory Smith, the first president of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company. Smith served as governor of Vermont from 1863 to 1865 before moving west. He is called the father and founder of Brainerd. Lawrence Brainerd was the first president of the Vermont Central Railroad. The Northern Pacific Railroad ran a special train as its first service to Brainerd on March 11, 1871. Its regular passenger service began the next September. The first passenger train from the

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in stat ...

, by way of Sauk Rapids, arrived on November 1, 1877. On February 18, 1887, the Minnesota legislature annexed part of Cass County (west of the Mississippi) to Crow Wing County, which doubled the former area of Crow Wing County.

Geography

Crow Wing County has an area of , of which is land and (14%) is water.

Topography and vegetation

Crow Wing County has two

state forest A state forest or national forest is a forest that is administered or protected by a sovereign state, sovereign or federated state, or territory (country subdivision), territory. Background State forests are forests that are Administration (gov ...

s, the Crow Wing State Forest and the Emily State Forest. The Cuyuna Lakes State Trail lies in the

Upper Mississippi River The Upper Mississippi River is the portion of the Mississippi River upstream of St. Louis, Missouri, United States, a city at the confluence of its main tributary, the Missouri River. Historically, it may refer to the area above the Arkansa ...

Basin. The topography is gently rolling to flat, mostly wooded and heavily dotted with waters and wetlands.''Crow Wing County MN'' Google Maps (accessed March 7, 2019)
/ref> It is home to an abundance of

wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animals and uncultivated plant species which can exist in their natural habitat, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introdu ...

, including

white-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known Common name, commonly as the whitetail and the Virginia deer, is a medium-sized species of deer native to North America, North, Central America, Central and South America. It is the ...

cottontail rabbit Cottontail rabbits are in the ''Sylvilagus'' genus, which is in the family Leporidae. They are found in the Americas. Most ''Sylvilagus'' species have stub tails with white undersides that show when they retreat, giving them their characterist ...

snowshoe hare The snowshoe hare (''Lepus americanus''), also called the varying hare or snowshoe rabbit, is a species of hare found in North America. It has the name "snowshoe" because of the large size of its hind feet. The animal's feet prevent it from sink ...

raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the North American, northern or common raccoon (also spelled racoon) to distinguish it from Procyonina, other species of raccoon, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest ...

red fox The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe and Asia, plus ...

gray fox The gray fox (''Urocyon cinereoargenteus''), or grey fox, is an omnivorous mammal of the family Canidae, widespread throughout North America and Central America. This species and its only congener (biology), congener, the diminutive island fox ...

coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans''), also known as the American jackal, prairie wolf, or brush wolf, is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the Wolf, gray wolf, and slightly smaller than the c ...

mink Mink are dark-colored, semiaquatic, carnivorous mammals of the genera ''Neogale'' and '' Mustela'' and part of the family Mustelidae, which also includes weasels, otters, and ferrets. There are two extant species referred to as "mink": the A ...

muskrat The muskrat or common muskrat (''Ondatra zibethicus'') is a medium-sized semiaquatic rodent native to North America and an introduced species in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands over various climates ...

squirrel Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae (), a family that includes small or medium-sized rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrel ...

beaver Beavers (genus ''Castor'') are large, semiaquatic rodents of the Northern Hemisphere. There are two existing species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are the second-large ...

, occasional

American black bear The American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), or simply black bear, is a species of medium-sized bear which is Endemism, endemic to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear species. It is an omnivore, with ...

Bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche ...

osprey The osprey (; ''Pandion haliaetus''), historically known as sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor, reaching more than in length and a wingspan of . It ...

and many other

waterfowl Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which i ...

Lakes and rivers

The main river is the

, and there are several smaller streams. It has about 417 recognized lakes. The top ten by size are: # Gull Lake – # Pelican Lake – # Upper and Lower White Fish Lake – # North Long Lake – #

Lake Edward Lake Edward (locally Rwitanzigye or Rweru) is one of the smaller African Great Lakes. It is located in the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift, on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda, ...

– # Bay Lake – # Cross Lake – # Round Lake – # Big Trout Lake – # Lower South Long Lake –

Major highways

* U.S. Route 169 *

Minnesota State Highway 6 Minnesota State Highway 6 (MN 6) is a highway in east-central and north-central Minnesota, which runs from its intersection with State Highway 18 in Bay Lake Township near Garrison and continues north to its northern terminus at its intersec ...

Minnesota State Highway 18 Minnesota State Highway 18 (MN 18) is a highway in east-central Minnesota, which runs from its intersection with State Highway 25 in Brainerd and continues east to its eastern terminus at its intersection with State Highway 23 in Finlayson ...

* Minnesota State Highway 25 * Minnesota State Highway 210 * Minnesota State Highway 371 *

Adjacent counties

* Aitkin County – northeast * Mille Lacs County – southeast * Morrison County – southwest * Cass County – northwest, north

Protected areas

* Crow Wing State Forest * Crow Wing State Park (part) * Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area * Cuyuna Lakes State Trail (within Cuyuna Country SRA) * Duck Lakes State Wildlife Management Area * Emily State Forest * Loerch State Wildlife Management Area * Mille Lacs Moraine Scientific and Natural Area * Safari North Wildlife Park * Upper Dean State Wildlife Management Area

Superfund site and environmental damage

The presence of railroads increased development in the county, but also brought environmental problems. The Burlington Northern (Brainerd/Baxter) EPA

Superfund Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the United States Environmental Pro ...

site is between Brainerd and Baxter.

Burlington Northern Railroad The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States–based railroad company formed from a merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1995. Its historical lineage begins in the earliest days of railroad ...

had a treatment plant in Crow Wing County for railroad ties, to protect the wood from weather and insects. Wastewater generated from the wood-treating process was sent to two shallow, unlined ponds. This created sludge that contaminated both the underlying soils and the

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit ...

with

creosote Creosote is a category of carbonaceous chemicals formed by the distillation of various tars and pyrolysis of plant-derived material, such as wood, or fossil fuel. They are typically used as preservatives or antiseptics. Some creosote types w ...

and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).

Demographics

2020 Census

2000 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 55,099 people, 22,250 households, and 15,174 families in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 33,483 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 97.64%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.31%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.78% Native American, 0.28% Asian, 0.01%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.20% from other races, and 0.78% from two or more races. 0.69% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. 32.5% were of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, 16.4% Norwegian, 9.4% Swedish, 6.2% Irish and 5.2% American ancestry. There were 22,250 households, out of which 30.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.70% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 8.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.80% were non-families. 26.40% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.70% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 2.93. The county population contained 24.80% under the age of 18, 8.10% from 18 to 24, 25.60% from 25 to 44, 24.40% from 45 to 64, and 17.10% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 96.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.50 males. The median income for a household in the county was $37,589, and the median income for a family was $44,847. Males had a median income of $33,838 versus $22,896 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the county was $19,174. About 6.50% of families and 9.80% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 11.40% of those under age 18 and 9.90% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

Cities

* Baxter * Brainerd (county seat) * Breezy Point * Crosby * Crosslake * Cuyuna * Deerwood * Emily * Fifty Lakes * Fort Ripley *

Garrison A garrison is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a military base or fortified military headquarters. A garrison is usually in a city ...

* Ironton * Jenkins * Manhattan Beach * Nisswa * Pequot Lakes * Riverton * Trommald

Census-designated place

* Merrifield

Unincorporated communities

* Barrows * Bay Lake * Crosby Beach * Crow Wing * Ideal Corners * Iron Hub * Klondyke * Lake Hubert *

Legionville Legionville (or Legion Ville) was the first formal basic training facility for the military of the United States. The camp, which was established in winter 1792 under the command of Major General Anthony Wayne, was near present-day Baden, Penns ...

* Little Pine * Loerch * Mission * Old Crow Wing (ghost town) * Pine Center * Saint Mathias *

Shephard Shepherd is a surname, cognate of the English word "Shepherd". Several common spelling variations exist, including Shepperd, Shephard, Shepard, and Sheppard. Shepherd Surname * Adaline Shepherd (1883–1950), American composer * Alan Shepherd ...

* Swanburg * Wolford * Woodrow

Townships

* Bay Lake Township * Center Township * Crow Wing Township * Daggett Brook Township * Deerwood Township * Fairfield Township * Fort Ripley Township * Gail Lake Township * Garrison Township * Ideal Township * Irondale Township * Jenkins Township * Lake Edwards Township * Little Pine Township * Long Lake Township * Maple Grove Township * Mission Township * Nokay Lake Township * Oak Lawn Township * Pelican Township * Perry Lake Township * Platte Lake Township * Rabbit Lake Township * Roosevelt Township * Ross Lake Township * Saint Mathias Township * Sibley Township (former) * Timothy Township * Wolford Township

Unorganized territories

* Dean Lake * West Crow Wing

Government and politics

Crow Wing County has voted Republican for several decades. In only one presidential election since 1976 has the county selected the Democratic candidate.

Education

School districts include:
Text list
/ref> * Aitkin Public School District * Brainerd Public School District * Crosby-Ironton Public School District * Little Falls Public School District * Onamia Public School District * Pequot Lakes Public Schools * Pierz Public School District * Pine River-Backus Public School District

References

External links

Crow Wing County official website

Crow Wing County Historical Society website
{{Coord, 46.49, -94.07, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-MN_source:UScensus1990 Minnesota counties on the Mississippi River 1870 establishments in Minnesota Populated places established in 1870 Minnesota placenames of Native American origin