County Origin

In 1857 a man named Augustus Aspinwall laid out a townsite in what is now Section 15, Thomastown township at the junction of the Crow Wing and Partridge rivers and named it Wadena. In 1872 when the railroad went through the area it ran about three miles south of this site and thus the demise of this town. The County townships were surveyed in 1863 and the county officially organized in 1873, with the town of Wadena designated as the county seat.

During that period there were five organized townships, Wadena, Aldrich, Thomastown, Leaf River and Wing River and three county commissioners. The balance of the townships were organized between this time and 1899, with Huntersville and Orton, being the last two, which had been organized as one township in 1898 were split in 1899. At this time there are six organized towns in the county. Wadena, the county seat, Verndale, Sebeka, Menahga, Aldrich and Nimrod.

Ghost towns, towns of the past or unorganized villages, included Kindred or Shell City, Oylen and Ferris, Central, Huntersville, Leaf River, Blue Grass.

In the early days there were many post offices in the county to serve people so they did not have to travel too far to get their mail. This was before the days of rural delivery. They included Kindred or Shell City, Wing River, Leaf River, Taylor’s Landing, Nimrod, Hoptacong, Farnham, Lukens, Passaic, Hartshorn, Ouichee, Bullard, Oye and Oylen. At the present time there are post offices in Menahga, Sebeka, Wadena, Verndale, Nimrod and Aldrich.

There were two railroads in the county. The Northern Pacific main line running east to west through Wadena in 1872. The Great Northern branch or “K” line which ran from Sauk Centre to Bemidji, via Sebeka and Menahga in 1891. This was disbanded back in 1964.

At one time Wadena was served by the Greyhound Bus Line, Elliott Bros. Transportation Co., Northwest Transportation Co., Red Bus Line, Gray Bus Line, Liederbach Bus Co. and Mercury Bus line.

There are many river systems in the county. The main ones being the Crow Wing River, Leaf River, Shell River, Blueberry River, Red Eye River, Wing River plus Cat River, Kitten Creek, Big Swamp Creek, Little Swamp Creek, Kettle Creek, Stocking Creek, Farnham Creek, Partridge River, Union Creek, Whiskey Creek, and Hay Creek. The following are the meandered lakes in the county. Blueberry Lake, Spirit Lake, Stocking Lake, Upper and Lower Twin Lakes, Sand Lake, Farnham Lake, Burgen Lake, Strike Lake, Rice Lake, Yaeger Lake, Mud Lake, Jim Cook Lake, Finn Lake, Simon Lake and Lovejoy Lake.