By the 1990s, Elk River and Sherburne County were in one of the fastest growing corridors in the state and the country. In 1974, the Village of Elk River changed to the City of Elk River in 1978, the City of Elk River and the Township of Elk River were consolidated to create one unit known as the City of Elk River as it exists today. The entire Township of Elk River would not get electricity until after World War II. This new dam created the four lobes of Lake Orono as it looks today, and in 1916, the Village of Elk River received electricity for the first time. The Orono Dam was destroyed by an ice storm in 1912, but hydropower gave a new incentive to dam the Elk River in 1915.
Grist mills and a starch factory, which took advantage of the potato fields to the west, were also built. And because the hardwood-forested hills in which the city is situated are made up of coarse materials, gravel mining was also prevalent in the area. In the latter half of the 19 th century, agriculture and dairy farming replaced lumber as the base of Elk River’s economy. Riverfront concert at Rivers Edge Commons ParkĪround this same time, the railroads replaced the rivers as the main focus of transportation, and the Lower Town (the present-day, historic downtown area) replaced Upper Town as the center of commerce. By 1870, Elk River’s population had swelled to 2,050 and in 1872, it became the county seat. The Village of Elk River was platted in 1865, replatted in 1868, and, when incorporated in the winter of 1880-1881, included both Orono and Elk River. In 1855, the area by the dam was platted and the Town of Orono (known as Upper Town) was created. His dam created the first lobe of Lake Orono (called the Mill Pond), which extended from the present day dam to Orono Cemetery Point. In 1851, Ard Godfrey, a native of Orono, Maine, saw the potential for water power of the Elk River and built a dam and a sawmill. Bottineau also built a hotel in 1850 on the banks of the Mississippi, about a half mile below the mouth of the Elk.Įarly settlers from Maine soon came to the area, many of whom were expert lumbermen. The trading post stood on a bluff just east of the present day bridge across the Elk River on Main Street. In 1846, David Frederic Faribault, son of French-Canadian fur trader, Jean-Baptiste Faribault, built a trading post near the conjunction of the Elk and Mississippi Rivers, which he sold, in 1848, to French trader and guide, Pierre Bottineau. The Elk River was named by Zebulon Pike, after the herds of elk he saw in the area, during his 1805 exploration of the upper Mississippi River. Business View Magazine interviews Calvin Portner, City Administrator of Elk River, Minnesota, as part of our focus on economic development in American cities.Įlk River is a city in Sherburne County, Minnesota, situated at the confluence of the Mississippi and Elk Rivers, about 34 miles northwest of Minneapolis.
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