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This column caused me to order Minnesota Place Names from the Minnesota Historical Society. It is hardcover and about three inches thick. I am about to read about Cook County places. Can hardly wait. [pause]
The fly leaf of the tome is beckoning. “The … names people give to [places] contain miniature history lessons. …. And sometimes they are the product of whimsey. “Organized alphabetically by County, Cook County is about a half inch in. The original data was obtained by the author’s visit in 1916. Here are some of the gleanings from that chapter.
The County was named for a Civil War Major from Faribault, Michael Cook, who died at the battle of Nashville in December 1864. Before the war he was a territorial and state senator. The name in the bill started out as Verendrye, in honor or a French explorer of the northern Minnesota boundary.
Most startling, all the townships were abolished in 1950 and reorganized into Schroeder, Tofte, East Cook, West Cook, and Grand Portage. The remainder of this wonder down memory lane will focus on places that have disappeared from signs and most memories. Please note that I have not visited most of these places; error may creep in. Be gentle, please.
Colville Township
Editor of the Red Wing Sentinel, a Democratic newspaper, and Civil War officer in First Minnesota Infantry of Gettysburg fame, finally breveted as a brigadier general. Attorney General of Minnesota, 1866-68. Homesteaded land in this township but returned to Red Wing to live and die.
Crofteville
Established in early 1900s by two Croft brothers (known as herring chokers), along with Peter Olson.
Fort Charlotte
Prior name for a fort near the present site of Grand Portage. It was on a site built in 1676-9 by Daniel Greysolon, sieur Du Luth. Named for the wife of George III.
Fox Fork
A village in Township 62N, Range 1E, Section 30, about 1924 or so. Established east of the headwaters of Durfee Creek. That township is the one immediately north of the city of Grand Marais.
Good Harbor Hill
A small settlement of the same name in Maple Hill Township was begun in the late 1890’s as summer homes and is called Terrace Hill by some.
Kitchi-bitigog
The Ojibwe name for the bay of Grand Marais is Kitchi-bitigog, the great duplicate water, referring to the two harbors, one northeast of the Tombolo. Did we know that it is in what was Rosebush Township?
Hovland
Hovland is the oldest organized township in Cook County, Minnesota. It was named after the Norwegian home of Ole Brunes, one of two carpenters who built a cabin on Brune’s homestead. Early on it was called Chicago for the Bay used by the Booth Packing Company to pick up fishermen’s boxes and barrels. The name was rejected by residents because it is a corruption of an Ojibway word meaning “skunk.”
Lutsen
Not Danish, but Lutsen was named after a town in Prussian Saxony where Gustavus Adophus lost his life in a battle. It was named by Carl Nelson. No indication is given as to why he chose that name. He didn’t like Swedes? He was a German passing as Scandinavian? Other ideas? Lutsen has had a post office since 1890.
Lockport was once a village in Lutsen Township, (T60N, R3W, Section 26).
Mineral Center
Mineral Center was a post office on the Grand Portage Reservation. (You may recall that Old Highway 61 does not go to Mineral Center.)
Meredith
A railroad station in Section 24 of Schroeder Township. Who knew?
There was also a railroad station at Page in the same Township.
Parkerville
An early settlement at the mouth of the Pigeon River with two or three buildings, all long gone.
Rosebush Township
The land from which the City of Grand Marais was carved. Named for the translation of the Ojibway word, Oginakan. Called Fall River on the maps, that creek west of the city was mapped as Rose Bush River at one point.
Schroeder Township
Named after John Schroeder who was president of a lumber company having offices in Ashland and Milwaukee. Lumber was rafted from the Temperance, Cross, and Two Island Rivers, presumably to Ashland. Tofte
Named after the Norwegian home of the settlers. This was after Carlton (below the mountain peak) was rejected for being used by others.
Thomsonite
Had its own post office in 1905-06. It is the site of a unique, semi-precious gemstone.
There remain several more sections on Cook County in the Encyclopedia, beginning with lakes and streams, which will form the basis of future columns, as the editor is willing.
Steve Aldrich is a retired Hennepin County lawyer and mediator, serving as judge from 1997-2010. He and Myrna moved here in 2016. He likes to remember that he was a Minnesota Super Lawyer before being elected to the bench. Now he is among the most vulnerable to viruses. Steve really enjoys doing weddings, the one thing a retired judge can do without appointment by the Chief Justice. He enjoyed officiating at a Zoom wedding with the congregation in Cook County, White Bear Lake, and Norway. Flowers and brickbats may be addressed to the editor or stevealdrich41@gmail.com.
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