RED LAKE  COUNTY

Red Lake County Historical Society

Red Lake County does not have a museum; however, there are several very important historical sites and we encourage you to visit them.                              

Contact person: 

Anne Healy

135 Bottineau Ave. N.E.

Red Lake Falls, MN  56750

Telephone No: 

(218) 253-2833

E-Mail:   

annhealy@gvtel.com

Website address:

http://www.redlakecountyhistory.org

Historic Sites In Red Lake County

Red Lake County Courthouse

The Red Lake County Courthouse at Red Lake Falls built in 1910 is of the classic Beaux Arts style from the early years of the 20^th century. Designed by architect Fremont D. Orff, the building is particularly imposing because of its hilltop location and visible from almost any place in the area.  Each of the four corner pavilions of the brick structure has its own small drum and dome.  The large central dome was removed in the 1940’s leaving a square balustered platform..  The main entrance is topped by a classic pediment and entablature.  It was for these reasons that this structure was entered into the National Register of Historic Places in May, 1983.

Pierre Bottineau Gravesite

 Pierre Bottineau, founder of Red Lake Falls in 1876, gained fame as the famous and trusted guide who led the many expeditions that brought railroads, farms and early frontier settlements throughout Minnesota and the Dakotas.  Bottineau was the able negotiator with the Pembina Indian Chippewa Tribe at the signing of the Old Crossing Treaty with the U.S. Government in 1863. He brought his family to Red Lake Falls in 1876 and continued services to the city and the government agencies until his death in 1895.

The Bottineau Memorial gravesite is located one mile east of Red Lake Falls on County Road No. 1.  Susan Warner, a potter and ceramist of Minneapolis, was commissioned and completed the structure in 2000.      

Cadotte Trading Post

The first trading post in this area was erected at the junction of the Red Lake and Clearwater Rivers by Jean Baptiste Cadotte, Jr., an employee of the Northwest Fur Trading Co.  We know that Cadotte spent the winter of 1797-98 here from the writings of David Thompson, a geographer and surveyer who took shelter in the cabin during the spring snow storm and wrote of the Cadotte family.

 Old Crossing and Treaty Park

On Oct. 2, 1863, the Principal Chiefs of the Red Lake and the Pembina bands of the Chippewa Indians signed a treaty that ceded 11,000,000 acres of land on both sides of the Red Lake River of the North to the U.S. Government.

Alexander Ramsey, the first Territorial Governor of Minnesota, represented the United States as Treaty Commissioner. “The main object of the negotiations would be to secure to the people of the United States the uninterrupted navigation of the Red River of the North.” The cession made possible  the settlement of the Red River Valley.

 Twenty-one counties in Minnesota and North Dakota were formed in whole or in part from the 11,000,000 acres ceded.  Minnesota counties are Clearwater, Kittson, Mahnomen, Marshall, Norman, Pennington, Polk, Red Lake and Roseau.

Old Crossing Treaty Memorial

The statue of a life size figure in bronze of a Chippewa Indian holding the Pipe of Peace, by the noted sculptor Carl C. Mose, was erected by the United States under the terms of a bill introduced by Congressman copnrad G. Selvig of Crookston and placed in Old Crossing Park.  The dedication of the monument was held June 25, 1933 before a huge crowd of 3,000 people. 

Location:  Old Crossing and Treaty Park with the Memorial is located at Huot, Minnesota, about 9 miles west of Red Lake Falls, or about 12 miles northeast of Crookston.

AFRAN  Association of the French of the North

AFRAN’s  mission is to create an understanding of the world’s French heritage through the arts and humanities.  AFRAN has sponsored annual Chautauquas for the past 20 years at Old Crossing and Treaty Park to introduce and encourage an historical and multicultural approach to the arts and humanities.

Contact: 

Virgil Benoit, Box 101, Red Lake Falls, Minnesota 56750.

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