History of Douglas County

Main Street, Evansville

Geneva Beach Hotel

Osakis

View of Brandon,, above, and downtown Alexandria, below.

douglas county

HISTORY

The first settlements in Douglas County were established in 1858, the same year that Minnesota became a state.

The area was a wilderness of woods, prairies and lakes and was home to Dakota and Chippewa Indians. Archeologists date the earliest bones and artifacts found in area burial sites as being more than 2,000 years old.

The Red River Trail, used by early pioneers and wagon trains, passed through the area to Fort Abercrombie in North Dakota. In the summer of 1858, brothers Alexander and William Kinkead established a settlement along the shore of Lake Agnes, built a log cabin and hotel, and named the area “Alexandria.”

A mail route was set up between St. Cloud and Fort Abercrombie, and government troops cut a road from Fort Snelling to Abercrombie, which allowed for a stage line and increasing numbers of new settlers. In 1862, news arrived that the Dakota were forming war parties. Many settlers headed east to safety, while others combined forces to defend their property. The Dakota uprising was too powerful, however, and the settlements were abandoned.

Months later, settlers returned to the county and soldiers arrived to build a stockade in Alexandria for protection. Treaties were later signed with the Dakota, and by 1866, things had calmed and the soldiers left. That same year, Douglas County’s boundaries were officially set. The county was named for Senator Stephen Douglas, a statesman and leader in the Democratic Party who helped with its establishment.

A government land office was set up in Alexandria. With the signing of the Homestead Act by President Lincoln, a surge of European immigrants and Civil War veterans came. Within seven years, almost all tillable land was claimed.

In 1878, the railroad was connected from Melrose to Alexandria and, the next year, to Brandon and Evansville. Several cities in the county were started along the steam locomotive line, including Nelson and Garfield. Eventually, the Soo Line crossed the county, and more towns, including Kensington, Forada, Carlos and Miltona, popped up. The new rail line allowed tourists and sportsmen easy access to the area, and the wealth of fish and game made the area a popular vacation spot.