Brainerd Minnesota History
Research
About 2008 an effort was made to get more Brainerd research materials online so anyone anyWHERE could more easily find valuable information on our town. Maps were located, photos were scanned, and local researchers started typing and filing. Here are some great online locations to find Brainerd history! No doubt there are many more...send them along! If you are just discovering Brainerd History, get caught up fast by subscribing to the quarterly City Newsletter. Updates on what's going on in town in the history arena can be found on its back page called History Corner. It will come to your inbox automatically if you prefer!
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UPDATE, 2/2019: This newsletter has been discontinued, but the site still includes all 20 back issues. This was posted in the last issue:
Last Newsletter! During its 2013 Strategic Planning Retreat, the City Council established 4 Strategic Focus areas:
1. INVEST IN CITY NEIGHBORHOODS
2. STABLE FINANCIAL PLANNING
3. UPGRADE THE CITY WEBSITE AND CREATE A CITY NEWSLETTER
4. DESIGN AND BUILD A MISSISSIPPI RIVERWALK
Implementation of Strategic Focus area #3 has included 20 Newsletter publications. This, however, will be the last Newsletter until the City Council determines whether it will be continued. You can find a PDF of ALL of the History Corner sections here:
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2018/1/2: No doubt this page will be growing as we scan more items. As you scan old photos or documents, please consider sharing them here! One new source of RESEARCH is the yearly Guest Guides put out by the Chamber or other groups. The ads are fabulous!
NOTE: Most scanning was done in OCR to make the document searchable. If it is not searchable, try downloading the PDF to your computer first, then opening it in Adobe Acrobat Reader. Clicking the FIND button should highlight your selected word on the entire document. Do a test on the 1946 Brainerd 75 Zapffe book towards the bottom of this page!
-NEW, 11/2015...QUESTIONS! See the bottom of the page.
-Brainerd Historic Art & Photo List...UPDATED to 2017! Find the button below.
-2017/9/5: 9 Yearbooks...SCANNED!
-2018: We FINALLY have the first book written on Brainerd scanned! See Ingolf Dillan's 1923 Brainerd's Half Century below. Look for the "More good research materials" section, and the pink OVAL button like this, Joe! >>>
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Newspapers-vintage!
Thanks to the Brainerd Public Library, the Crow Wing County Historical Society, whoever put these all on microfilm in the first place, and especially John Van Essen and others for taking the time to scan these, many are now online!
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And many thanks to the CIty of Brainerd for hosting these on their website! Click below.
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MAPS...from the beginning!
We have managed to round up every known map of Brainerd, and the City has graciously agreed to host them online on their website for all to enjoy. There were some maps that the historical society had, and some that the city had, and some that each needed...so we did a swap & share! These are some of the best research tools out there, and now they really are "out there"! Check it out below. NEW, 1/31/2018, ORIGINAL PLAN:
Historic Compilations
With all of this new information, and decades of her own research, a local researcher has been compiling stories on the local history, by category. Some of these are Early History, Buildigns/Blocks, People, NP Railroad, and more.
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These are hosted on the Crow Wing County Historical Society website, and many thanks to them-and all those involved with uploading these valuable compilations. The best part is that as more info comes in, the compilations are constantly updated!
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"Modern, up-to-date facility, and it has a telephone on the main floor!"
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Oh, this is the old one, 1906 photo. I'll see if I can get a photo of our new one.​
A video that's a real hoot...'er, TOOT!​ Compliments of the Crow Wing County Historical Society! (And Pam & fam.)
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One cannot hardly say the word RESEARCH without coming up with the word LIBRARY. If you have not been to your local library lately, stop in! You and 59 other people AN HOUR during a given week pass through the front doors.
Here you'll find SO much on Brainerd, including a great selection of Brainerd City Directories, yearbooks, histories written on our town over the years and much more! Click the button below for more info...then enjoy!
Be sure to check out a Brainerd History Walk booklets...as of 2015 now one for the Downtown, and one for the Northside, and a NEW Riverview Walk!
Research can be found in MANY places...even on FACEBOOK! See Andy's page below.
Research gets results:
Ever so unofficial, here are some LISTS to chew on. Look 'em over and send me any corrections, or additions! The one on Restaurants is WAY old, and it needs updating after I started back 5 years ago or so. The BCD scans I just added will help!
LIST of LISTS (so far):
-grocers
-resorts
-restaurants
-taverns (Updated 10/18/2021.)
---LISTS!!!---
Putting minds together gets more done, for sure. By having the above online, we have dug up...sometimes literally, more information on Brainerd in the last 2 years than the last 2 decades. Now anyone, anywhere can help research, and network with others that are doing the same thing in their field of interest. Contact us to see where we could use your help, or maybe we have info for you!
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A note about the Grocer’s List. I started out in about 2008 making a simple list of all grocery stores in town that I knew of. Then I got confused at all the Red Owl’s and Schaefer’s...they kept moving and building all the time. South 6th was pretty easy, and so was the north side where I grew up. But we were not allowed to go in to NE since that would mean going past the dreaded cemetery. There were grocery stores every few blocks over there! Of course, we could not cross the tracks, so said Mom…little did she know the big kids taught us how to go UNDER the tracks at the bridge, by the river we were not supposed to go near either. Then I started looking around in the Brainerd City Directories, and realized some stores had several owners, and some owners moved to different stores. A lot of stores were no more than a front porch made in to a small store, and a good portion of them were owned by a woman, according to the name of the store listed such as Harris, Mrs. Ruth. Most stores were named simply by the owners’ name such as Monasmith’s or Weideman’s. Some added the word Grocery, and some Cash Grocery. Did that mean they did not extend credit and sold for cash for less? The list was getting too long and soon needed a spreadsheet. Then along came more directories and I took on Oak Street, and it REALLY got complicated. The number of grocers really is an indicator of the vitality of an area of town in the day.
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When we were down to one Ma & Pa grocery store in all of town I wanted to make sure these wonderful folks that served the needs of their neighborhoods would not be forgotten. I then dove deeper in to the directories, finding that 1937 seemed to be the year with the largest number of grocers, so at least all in that directory are listed here. If I go back farther I will surely find dozens more, so this list will likely never be completed. Note that some addresses are listed and colored the same and in order of the ownership date. Items in RED are questions I have, so see if you have some answers!
-CWF, 3/9/2017
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In April of 2017 the age-old question of Turcotte Grocery on Kingwood St. came up again, and with it the confusion with the grocer down the street to the east called Weidemann's. Well, I have been confused and looking for my ol' Turcotte's location for years, and decided to compile thoughts and recollections from others. See if anything rings a bell, here:
2016/6/20: Below, towards the bottom of this page, find two GREAT research tools...the 1888 and the 1951 Brainerd City Directories. They are also OCR's, so you can easily SEARCH the document by word!
The 2016 Brainerd History Week's NE Brainerd bus tours stirred up LOTS of questions on grocery stores, so please review the Grocers of Brainerd list and see what you can add!
Click on the book image to find out more about this new exciting book! If you are studying the history of Brained, THIS is the place to start! If you would like just ONE good coffee table book, THIS is it! This is the first newly-updated book published on Brainerd since 1946.
Please consider becoming a member of the
Crow Wing County Historical Society!
Check out both buttons below for more info, and be sure to
share it with your friends!
Here you go, a LIST of places that historic art and history of the building...is, well, IN the building! Started during the 2014 Brainerd History Week, I'll start updating this list now as I have since found more loctions. What did I miss?
More cool research items below:
Websites: I can't help but notice that many businesses these days are including a HISTORY tab to show off their great photos and infomation on the history of their business or building. Shing Wako Resort, Bar Harbor, and Adventure Advertising are just a few examples. If you know of more, please send them in and I'll add them to a list here on the RESEARCH page. After all, the best place to research a building is often at the building, or in this case the current owner's website! How easy? Often the owner has done hours of his own RESEARCH for us! Check them out, then THANK them..and support you local business!
Businesses with GREAT website History sections:
Anderson Bros. Construction
Bar Harbor Supper Club
Cinosam Club
Grand View Lodge
Parker Building (E. L. Menk)
Schaefer's
Shing Wako Resort
YMCA
CLC (Central Lakes College)
Who else???
QUESTIONS!!!!
Just a few years ago, say 2008, we had no clear structure to research our history. Along came the Brainerd History Group, then Ann. M. Nelson's Special Features were put online; maps are now online, and newspapers are being scanned. Then came Andy's Facebook page, sheesh! The result of all of this has been an explosion of long-asked questions being answered. BUT, we still have more, or at least I do! Here is my list of top questions that need answering yet, somewhat in order of preference.
1) What were the crescent-shaped pilings for by the RR bridge?
2) Did the Water Pumping Station at the end of N. 7th St. also produce electricity, or was this done in a separate building down there.
3) There are some utility poles running to the east there. What were they used for? That is, was power made at the station sent to the east, or was it produced at the dam and sent west???
4) Was power sent from this S. side of the river sent to the W. side here? There is a more modern pole there that would suggest this.
5) What is the iron stake cable anchor in the ground there for? A ferry service cable anchor? A logging chain anchor?
6) Did the Water Pumping Station also draw water from wells, perhaps on low water years when the gravity feed from the river was disabled?
7) I'll think of more! What can you add???
Baxter, Minn. 371 North Corridor:
Here is an attempt to list the businesses that were up there as “The Strip” grew. The list has an East and a West section, and both start at the intersection of Hwy. 210/371 at the old “Paul Bunyan Corner”, and go north. This is just a rough start, so please feel free to chime in and fill in the blanks!
Locations are listed as the earliest business on the site, then the next noted after a >. Dates of operation follow each name, if known.
EAST:
Paul Bunyanland Amusement Park. Paul Bunyan Motel was behind it to the east.>Kohl’s 2015
Club LaGuyal, LaGuyal Lanes>Pauline's>Mills Archery Center 2015
Pine Wood Overnight Cabins>Mills Fleet Farm 2015
Mill’s Motor/GM 2015
Mel Christianson’s liquor store/name?>Pink Liquor Store/Bruce>vacant 2015
some boat company>Plywood Minnesota>Radco 2015
Triangle Oil Co. 2015
A & W Root Beer
Kentucky Fried Chicken 2015
Bonanza Restaurant 2015
Target 2015
ALDI 2015
MillsMotor/Ford
Tanks>Menards
Shallbetters>Taco Towne
Nisswa
Cass Lake, hahahahahaha
WEST:
Fruth Beverage Co. (Frank Fruth)
Starlite Club
Godfather's Pizza>Hasse’s Too>Pizza Hut
Glendenning Motorways
Speaking of research...
---For many years I have been buying up the 2 vintage books on Brainerd if I could buy them at anything near a reasonable price. You probably know the 1946 Carl Zapffe, Sr. book is quite scarce and always pricey, in the $75-125 range. The 1971 "green book" Dispatch centennial reprint is a bit more common, and I can find them around $20-35, a big range I know. I have seen both offered at double these figures, but decline buying them. If you would like either LMK and I may have one availalbe. The green books range from OK to excellent condition. It has now been indexed...see the notes at the end of this page.
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A GREAT but hard to find book was made by the Brainerd Dispatch back in 1994 called "Out of the Woods; A Pictorial History of the Brainerd Lakes Area." It is chock full of hundreds of captioned photos.
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---FINALLY, some Brainerd City Directories have been scanned! You can use them for your research here, and they're OCR'd so are easily searchable. Enjoy!
NOTE: The above 1951 is NOT the Polk Directory, rather the soft-cover one compiled by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
This time researcher Ann M. Nelson kicked it up a notch! For the 2016 Brainerd History Week, she made a history of ALL of NE Brainerd, AND a walk...or shall I call it a ride?
This great booklet rounds it all up, PLUS re-creates the Parker Electric Railroad on a map on the back. For the 2016 Brainerd History Week event, we did the tour on a bus, but you can now just download the PDF and hop in the car or on a bike, and do the tour yourself! Another Ann M. Nelson production, find it here:
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On the Brainerd History Walk page, you can find the Guide Notes so you can take a tour of the old electric railroad route yourself! Hmmm, the next natural Walk location might be...Southeast!
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Finally...some YEARBOOKS have been scanned!
Here is a great history of Brainerd churches, done for our Centennial in 1971!
A good place to find out what has been going on in town as far as history goes is to read back issues of the
Brainerd City Newsletter's History Corner section. This goes back to 2013, and you'd be surprised at all the activity!
An amazing booklet was discovered during the 2014 Brainerd History Week's celebration. Thanks to Nancy Paine for allowing us to scan this treasure! Thanks also to the City of Brainerd for hosting this booklet on their website, suitable for downloading.
NOTES from Nancy: This house was owned by Leonard & Alice Peterson, later owned by Howard Stark. Nancy got this from Doug Livingston, who worked at the paper mill, and he got it from his mother, Violet. Nancy said she recalls a Bob Mansfield was instrumental in trying to save the old Park Opera House in the 1990’s.
--LOCAL BOOKS!!!---
LOCAL history is alive and well in Brainerd!
There has been a big movement in the area of late, to showcase something we for some reason did not seem to get taught in school…our LOCAL history! Many folks are now researching the history of the area, so here I will attempt to maintain a list of publications as they come along, AND where you can find them.
Besides reams of material now on the Crow Wing County Historical Society’s great website, under Special Features, a great book on Brainerd was published by the staff there in 2014. Author Bio: “The Crow Wing County Historical Society's photographic archives bring Brainerd's early history to life in Images of America: Brainerd. The staff and volunteers carefully researched how a wild and woolly wilderness was transformed into a thriving community.” Find out more here.
In addition, there are now some locally-produced books available for checkout at the Brainerd Public Library. See the photo below.
NOTE: Publications produced with Legacy Grant funding cannot be sold. Only a small amount of books were produced to be check-able at institutions. For instance, there were only 5 books budgeted for the 2015 Photo Index. One went to the CWCHS for use as research by its patrons, and the rest are check-able at the library.
From upper left:
A Walk Through History-the Downtown Brainerd History Walk, compiled by many local historians in 2008, bound in 2011- a Legacy Grant funded project. This booklet is available at the Crow Wing County Historical Society or Brainerd Public Library, or online here. These are not for sale, since they were produced with Legacy Grant funding. However, you can download and print out your own copy!
A Brief History of Early Northeast Brainerd, Ann M. Nelson-2016. This booklet is available for download at the Crow Wing County Historical Society. There may be a few hard copies yet available. On the back page is a walking or riding tour of the Parker Electric Railroad in its NE section. Find the Guide Notes here that were used for the 2 bus tours during the 2016 Brainerd History Week.
Brainerd’s Hidden History-A Tour of Historic Buildings of North Brainerd, Ann M. Nelson, 2015. This booklet is available for download at the Crow Wing County Historical Society. There may be a few hard copies yet available.
From lower left:
Brainerd Public Library’s 2015 & 2016 Historic Photo Index; a listing of donated images, Brainerd Public Library-a Legacy Grant funded project-2015. You can check out this book at the Brainerd Public Library, or download the digital version here. These are not for sale, since they were produced with Legacy Grant funding. However, you can download and print out your own copy!
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To find the books at the Brainerd Public Library, look for:
“Brainerd Public Library’s 2015 Historic Photo Index”
“Brainerd Public Library’s 2016 Historic Photo Index”
A History of Lower South Long Lake, Mike O’Brien, 2015. This book is available for check out at the Brainerd Public Library. I will try to find out how you can find Mike to purchase a book.
More:
An Overview of Happenings in the City of Brainerd for the Years of 1914 and Early 1915, Ann M. Nelson-2014. Find it here!
Riverview Brainerd History Walk, Carl Faust-2015. A walk in the park, around a lake, AND through the woods! Find it here!
Local history CAN BE FUN, when you find it. These publications make it EASY to find, and you can do them on your own time, often online without ever leaving the house. Others make dandy walks, bikes or car rides. Now you know WHAT they are, and WHERE they are, so go out and have some FUN with history! And, bring a kid along!!!! They will be the future keepers of the history.
-CWF, 7/31/2016, UPDATED: 8/1/2016
Paper Mill fans...click this!
NOTE: Click the link at the bottom called "Local history is alive and well" to open a document that has all of those underlined links clickable, and zip right to the websites mentioned!
Yes, all of the books below were made in Brainerd by local authors!
2017/5/24:
I found one more! Our WONDERFUL Crow Wing County Historical Society has laboriously INDEXED the famous Brainerd, Minnesota 1871-1971 Centennial publication of the Brainerd Daily Dispatch book. This is commonly referred to as "The Green Book."
This book is a compilation of the many Dispatch articles that were printed during the year leading up to our Centennial. I don't think it includes ALL of the articles, but I'm not sure about this. Perhaps someone at the Dispatch can enlighten us. But now, thanks to the hard-working folks at our own Crow Wing County Historical Society, the Green Book has been indexed so you can now find anyone or anything you are interested in at a glance, alphabetically. This book is a gem, a classic, and a GREAT research tool. It is great, like having a hundred years of Brainerd, Minnesota newspaper history all in one place…
in your hands.
Download the index below:
The Crow Wing County Digest, Vol. 1, Number 1, 1914. I have no clue if there were any other issues? Do you?
Here is an interesting booklet describing just how far along the county was by 1916!
Are you a paper mill person? See this:
It's the history of one of my favorite old haunts, the Happy Hour Bar. Document updated 1/1/2022:
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More RESEARCH materials to come! In the meantime, we are working on these projects and could use some help... see the PROJECTS page.
Man, this one is a corker. We need some NE folks to help sort this out. Here is a list of businesses on NE Washington St. from The Fill to about 4th Ave., in 1937 and lately. It was one busy place back then! Click below:
More good research materials:
NOW is the time to interview your aging relatives, who have a ton of memories up there in their minds! Why not record some of those memories by checking out an Oral History Kit at the library? It has a super-simple digital recorder and info on interviewing, and you have a month to get it done. It's hard to get folks to write, but most people, especially seniors, LOVE to chat. I while back a group of retired teachers used the "I Seem to Recall" form below, and the results were quite amazing! It was a blast! Try it, and add your own questions:
