ItascaWeb.com Guide to La Prairie, Minnesota

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ItascaWeb.com Guide to La Prairie, Minnesota

Click for Grand Rapids, Minnesota Forecast

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Location:

Population:

Geographic Area	2000 Total Population	1990	1980	Population Change 1990-2000	Percent Non-white
City of La Prairie	605	438	536	38.1%	1.7%

History:

La Prairie, a city of Grand Rapids Township, is near the mouth of Prairie River, which flows through Prairie Lake. It was incorporated as a village December 29, 1890, and developed as a logging community. Its steamboat landing on the Mississippi River was first known as Neal's Landing, named for owner Neal Carr, the name changing to Nealsville, then Saginaw, then La Prairie. It had a Duluth and Winnipeg Railroad station and a post office, 1890-1917. There are many stories about the origin of the name.

Courtesy Minnesota Historical Society

LA PRAIRIE, the Itasca county town that vanished.

Still platted and incorporated as a town, the former trading center has gone. Once the Itasca county seat, an election battle back in 1892 was won — along with the county seat — by Grand Rapids.

The growth of Grand Rapids started with that election. The disappearance of LaPrairie started a few years later.

When the Gran family — and others — settled in the Trout Lake area LaPrairie was the closest trading point. That is where the settlers bought their sugar and spices, hiking by trail through the forest to LaPrairie. located near where the Prairie and the Mississippi rivers join.

A newspaper, the LaPrairie Magnet, was started there in 1889 by A. G. Bernard, but after a few years it was moved to Grand Rapids and later was discontinued. The Review was established in LaPrairie in 1890 by Graffam & Orr, but a few years after that trading center lost the county seat fight the Review was purchased by E. C. Kiley, who had started the G.and Rapids Herald in 1895. The combined newspapers—from LaPrairie and Grand Rapids, became the Herald-Review.

More LaPrairie History

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Aerial Map: [click photo to enlarge, zoom in or zoom out]

Aerial photo is courtesy of Microsoft's Terra Server and the US Geological Survey

Topographical Map: [click image to enlarge, zoom in or zoom out]

Topographic map is courtesy of Microsoft's Terra Server and the US Geological Survey

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