Brainerd, Minnesota

Brainerd is a city located in Crow Wing County, Minnesota. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 13,178. It is the county seat of Crow Wing County⁶ and one of the largest cities in Central Minnesota.

Geography

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 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. Many people from nearby towns like Baxter, East Gull Lake, and Nisswa consider themselves Brainerd residents.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 21.9 km² (8.4 mi²). 20.6 km² (8.0 mi²) of it is land and 1.2 km² (0.5 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 5.57% water.

History

Originally Ojibwe territory, Brainerd was first seen by white men 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-1800s.

In these early years the relationship between the settlers and the Indians was complicated. The most famous example of this tenuous relationship was the so-called "Blueberry War" of 1872. Two "half-breed" Objiwe were hung for allegedly murdering a missing girl, and when a group of Indians approached the town, troops from nearby Fort Ripley were called in to prevent a potential reprisal. As it turns out, however, the Ojibwe only wanted to sell blueberries and the settlers narrowly avoided a bloody misunderstanding.

Brainerd was the brainchild of Northern Pacific railroad president John Gregory Smith, who in 1870 named the township after his wife, Anne Eliza Brainerd Smith. 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.

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 once again functioned as a township in the interrum.

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 have led to a decline in the importance of a railroad station that once employed over a thousand and serviced locomotives for the whole Northern Pacific line.

The Northwest Paper Company built Brainerd's first paper mill in 1903 and with the steady increase in tourism since the early 1900s the paper and service industries have become Brainerd's primary employers. The town's coating mill was sold by Potlatch to Sappi Limited in 2002.

Brainerd itself is now heavily developed into commercial and residential areas and most new construction in the area takes place in Baxter. Along Brainerd's western border the boundary between the two cities has become effectively indistinguishable, prompting some to call for a merger of the two communities into "Braxter."

Demographics

As of the census² of 2000, there are 13,178 people, 5,623 households, and 3,036 families residing in the city. The population density is 638.4/km² (1,652.8/mi²). There are 5,847 housing units at an average density of 283.3/km² (733.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 95.83% White, 0.71% African American, 1.44% Native American, 0.46% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.26% from other races, and 1.29% from two or more races. 0.86% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There are 5,623 households out of which 29.4% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.8% are married couples living together, 14.3% have a female householder with no husband present, and 46.0% are non-families. 37.5% of all households are made up of individuals and 16.8% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.23 and the average family size is 2.94.

In the city the population is spread out with 25.1% under the age of 18, 13.7% from 18 to 24, 26.3% from 25 to 44, 16.8% from 45 to 64, and 18.1% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 33 years. For every 100 females there are 85.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 79.4 males.

The median income for a household in the city is $26,901, and the median income for a family is $35,212. Males have a median income of $27,677 versus $21,217 for females. The per capita income for the city is $15,744. 17.6% of the population and 11.8% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 20.5% of those under the age of 18 and 16.0% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

Trivia

Brainerd claims Paul Bunyan as its native; the largest animated statue of him, once located at the now-defunct Paul Bunyan Land in nearby Baxter, is on display a few miles east of the town.

Much of the Coen brothers' movie Fargo takes place in a fictional version of Brainerd. The landmarks pictured (the Blue Ox Bar, the Paul Bunyan statue) are not the same ones actually in the town.

External links

• Brainerd official website (http://www.ci.brainerd.mn.us/)
• Brainerd History.com (http://brainerddispatch.com/history/)