Source: Upham, Warren, Minnesota Geographic Names. St. Paul, Minnesota Histroical Society, 1969. |
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Aitkin |
Scottish-born fur trader William Alexander Aitkin |
Anoka |
Sioux or Dakota word meaning “on both sides” |
Becker |
George Loomis Becker, former St. Paul mayor, state senator, brigadier general and St. Paul and Pacific Railroad land commissioner |
Beltrami |
Giamcomo Beltrami; discoverer of the Bloody (Red Lake) River and the Mississippi River |
Benton |
Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton; enactor of homestead land laws |
Big Stone |
Big Stone Lake |
Blue Earth |
Named for the bluish-green earth in the region |
Brown |
Joseph Renshaw Brown; drummer boy, soldier, Indian trader, lumberman, pioneer, speculator, sounder, legislator, politician, editor and inventor |
Carlton |
Rueben B. Carlton; early settler and member of the first senate (1858) |
Carver |
Jonathan Carver; explorer and writer of the northland, traveled with the Sioux on the Minnesota River |
Cass |
Statesman Lewis Cass |
Chippewa |
Chippewa River |
Chisago |
Named after the largest lake in the county |
Clay |
Statesman Henry Clay |
Clearwater |
Clearwater River and Lake |
Cook |
Major Michael Cook; brave Civil War soldier |
Cottonwood |
Cottonwood River |
Crow Wing |
Named for an island shaped like a raven’s wing at the junction of the Crow Wing and Mississippi Rivers |
Dakota |
Named after the Dakota Tribe of Indians |
Dodge |
Henry and August Caesar Dodge; father and son politicians of the time |
Douglas |
Stephen Arnold Douglas; know as “little giant,” adversary of Abe Lincoln |
Faribault |
Jean Baptiste Faribault; trader among the Sioux |
Fillmore |
Millard Fillmore; US President (1850-1853) |
Freeborn |
William Freeborn; second mayor of Red Wing |
Goodhue |
James Madison Goodhue; Minnesota’s first printer and editor |
Grant |
Ulysses Simpson Grant; Civil War general and US President (1869-1877) |
Hennepin |
Father Louis Hennepin; missionary, explorer and author |
Houston |
Sam Houston; general and political leader |
Hubbard |
Lucius Frederick Hubbard; editor, soldier, businessman, and first governor 1882-1887 |
Isanti |
Tribal name of the area |
Itasca |
Lake Itasca |
Jackson |
Henry Jackson; first merchant, postmaster, and justice-of-the-peace in St. Paul |
Kanabec |
Named after the Snake River, Kanabec is Ojibway for “snake” |
Kandiyohi |
Dakota Indian name meaning “where the buffalo fish come” |
Kittson |
Norman Wolfred Kittson; leading pioneer, fur trader, and mayor of St. Paul |
Koochiching |
Cree Indian name of uncertain meaning given by Ojibways to Rainy River and the falls and rapids |
Lac Qui Parle |
French, meaning “lake which talks” |
Lake |
Named after Lake Superior |
Lake of the Woods |
Named after the lake that forms the county’s northern border |
Le Sueur |
French-Canadian Pierre Charles Le Sueur; trader and explorer |
Lincoln |
Abraham Lincoln |
Lyon |
General Nathaniel Lyon; killed in the Battle of Wilson’s Creek, Missouri |
Mahnomen |
Ojibway word for wild rice |
Marshall |
William Rainey Marshall; pioneer merchant, banker, soldier, and governor (1866-1870) |
Martin |
Henry Martin, who came from Connecticut in 1856 and purchased thousands of acres in this and other counties |
McLeod |
Martin McLeod; a pioneer fur trader who became president of the Territorial Legislature Council in 1853 |
Meeker |
Bradley B. Meeker; territorial legislator, Minnesota Supreme Court Justice and charter member of the Minnesota Historical Society |
Mille Lacs |
Named after the lake the French called “Thousand Lakes” |
Morrison |
William and Allen Morrison; pioneer fur traders who explored the Mississippi headwaters |
Mower |
John El. Mower; pioneer lumberman who served both the Territorial (1854-55) and State Legislatures (1874-75) |
Murray |
William Pitt Murray; Territorial Legislator and president of its council, also a state representative and senator |
Nicollet |
Joseph Nicolas Nicollet; a French-born geographer and explorer who mapped the Itasca Lake basin in 1836 |
Nobles |
William H. Nobles; a wagon maker and road builder who served in the Minnesota Territorial Legislature in 1854 and 1856 |
Norman |
Named after the early Norwegian (Norsemen or Norman) settlers |
Olmsted |
David Olmsted; first mayor of St. Paul who was also an editor and a publisher |
Otter Tail |
Ottertail Lake and River, named by the Ojibway for its long, ancient sandbar shaped like an otter’s tail |
Pennington |
Edmund Pennington; a railroad man who become president of the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railway |
Pine |
Named for the great forests of white and Norway pine which once flourished in the county |
Pipestone |
Named for the red pipestone, or catlinite, which was venerated and quarried by Indians |
Polk |
James Knox Polk; US President (1845-1849) |
Pope |
General John Pope; explorer and soldier who assisted Generals Sibley and Sully in the 1863-64 campaign against the Sioux Indians |
Ramsey |
Alexander Ramsey; Minnesota’s first Territorial Governor (1849-1853) and the second mayor of St. Paul (1855) |
Red Lake |
Red Lake River, named by the Ojibway for the river’s red sand and reddish water |
Redwood |
Named after a river believed to be named for a slender bush whose red bark the Dakota mixed with tobacco for smoking |
Renville |
Joseph Renville who led the Sioux warriors for the British against the US in the War of 1812 |
Rice |
Henry Mower Rice who aided in negotiating Indian treaties and became one of the first two Minnesota Senators |
Rock |
Named for a large rocky outcrop or plateau, know as “The Mound” |
Roseau |
Roseau Lake and Roseau River |
St. Louis |
St. Louis River which was given its name by French explorer Verendrye |
Scott |
General Winfield Scott who served in the War of 1812 and was American troop commander in the Mexican War (1846-1848) |
Sherburne |
Moses Sherburne; a Territorial Supreme Court Justice from 1853-1857, he helped to compile Minnesota’s statutes |
Sibley |
Henry Hastings Sibley; fur trader, pioneer, and first governor of Minnesota (1858-1860) |
Stearns |
Charles Thomas Stearns; distinguished pioneer resident of St. Cloud |
Steele |
Franklin Steele; a prominent Minneapolis pioneer and charter member of the Minnesota Historical Society and member of the University of Minnesota Board of Regents |
Stevens |
Isaac Ingalls Stevens; a statesman who requested this county be named for him seven years after a clerical error denied him that honor in 1855 for Stearns County |
Swift |
Henry Adoniram Swift, Minnesota’s governor in 1863Todd CountyJohn Blair Smith Todd; commander of Fort Ripley from 1849-1856 |
Todd |
When Todd County was established by the Minnesota Territorial Legislature on February 20, 1856, it extended east to the Mississippi River including the fort that was known as Fort Gaines. The name was later changed to Fort Ripley. At that time Fort Gaines (now Fort Ripley) was in Todd County. Captain John Baines Smith Todd, a first cousin of Mary Todd Lincoln, the wife of Abraham Lincoln, was the Commander. Todd County was named in his honor. |
Traverse |
Lake Traverse |
Wabasha |
Named for a three-generation line of great Sioux chiefs named Wabasha |
Wadena |
Wadena Trading Post, built on the old Crow Wing-to-Pembina Trail |
Waseca |
Dakota or Sioux word translated as “rich,” “fertile” and “plentiful” |
Washington |
George Washington |
Watonwan |
Watonwan River, a Dakota name believed to signify “where fish-bait abounds” |
Wilkin |
Colonel Alexander Wilkin, an attorney, state marshall and soldier who was killed in 1864 during the Battle of Tupelo, Mississippi |
Winona |
Named after a Dakota woman of distinction, Winona, who was a cousin of the last of the three chiefs named Wabasha |
Wright |
Silas Wright, New York lawyer and politician |
Yellow Medicine |
Yellow Medicine River, the Dakota or Sioux Pajutzaee (“yellow-plant root diggings”) |