In 1870, the Northern Pacific Railroad survey crew chose the spot where the tracks from Duluth to Moorhead would cross the Mississippi River. By March 1871, the first train rolled into Brainerd, named for the family of the wife of railroad president J. Gregory Smith. As the town site agent, Lyman P. White was responsible for platting the city and became known as the “Father of Brainerd.” The railroad established its headquarters and general offices in Brainerd, which quickly drew thousands of workers to the new town, known as the “City of Pines.” Many boardinghouses, saloons, churches, homes, and businesses quickly sprang up to accommodate them. Important industries developed, including logging, lumbering, brick making, ice harvesting, and more. Brainerd's well-known landmark, the historic water tower, was the first concrete elevated water tank in the United States.

Author Bio: The Crow Wing County Historical Society's photographic archives bring Brainerd's early history to life in Images of America: Brainerd. The staff and volunteers carefully researched how a wild and woolly wilderness was transformed into a thriving community.

A Review by local Brainerd historian Ann M. Nelson —      I have just completed reading Images of America: Brainerd, a newly published book compiled and written by the staff of the Crow Wing County Historical Society and I want to let all lovers of Brainerd history know that this is far and away the BEST and MOST ACCURATE book ever printed on the history of Brainerd. The photographs included in the book are excellent; it is apparent a great deal of thought and consideration was given to their selection and they cover a wide variety of people and events important to the history of Brainerd.      The descriptions of the photos portraying historic Brainerd events, buildings and people are complete, concise and extremely accurate. It's clear that as much history as possible was included in a very limited amount of space--and that is an exceedingly difficult task to accomplish.      It is obvious that the staff of the historical society expended a considerable amount of time, effort and energy into making this book a monument to Brainerd history. They are all to be congratulated on the outcome. I thank the Crow Wing County Historical Society very much for undertaking this enormous task and bringing it to a highly successful conclusion.

Table of Contents Acknowledgements 6 Introduction 7 1.   Moving Along 11 2.   Settling Down 25 3.   Learning and Worshipping 35 4.   Buying and Selling 49 5.   Taking and Making 67 6.   Protecting and Serving 77 7.   Caring and Curing 85 8.   Playing and Competing 93 9.   Entertaining 107 10. Happenings 117

Here are some sample pages (low-quality scans for the web - the actual pages are much crisper):

Here is a surname index that is included separately with the book
(also available as a PDF file for those who purchased the book elsewhere):

Surname	Page Numbers
Adair	34, 83, 103
Alderman	113
Allbright	31
Anderson	17, 56, 84, 106, 109
Antonson	17
Arnesburger	65
Arnold	40, 61
Askew	107
Avery	106
Baker	17
Bane	91, 113
Bangert	65
Barron	71
Batcheller	103
Benest	17
Benson	74, 109
Bierhaus	106
Bly	7
Brady	83
Brainerd	7, 12
Brandt	79
Britton	60
Brooks	96, 113
Brown	105
Brunelle	106
Bryan	127
Buchite	65
Buh	45
Burton	65
Bush	102
Cable	96
Camp	85, 88
Campbell	83
Carr	38
Cass	81
Chase	96
Christenson	110
Christiansen	110
Clark	54, 83
Clough	117
Clouston	105
Clulow	105
Cohen	113
Congdon	112
Crust	84
Dammann	106
Davis	90
Day	105
Deering	54, 56
Denneon	105
DeRocher	80
Drake	62
Drapeau	58
Dresskell	108
Drexler	76
Duneman	17
Dunn	32, 103
Dye	57
Early	83
Eastman	105
Ebert	113
Ebinger	8, 68
Eckholm	105
Emerson	101
Engebretson	106
Englund	81
Erickson	90, 104, 106
Farrar	103
Fernald	96
Ferris	8, 31, 103
Fields	65
Finne	17
Fitzsimmons	106
Fleener	47
Fleming	113
Fogelstrom	79
Folsom	61
Forsberg	98
Forsythe	30
Frayer	17
Fredericks	92
French	81
Fricker	75
Fullerton	31
Garvey	62
Gegoonce	118
Gibson	54
Goedderz	83
Gorenfloe	105
Graham	23
Grant	19
Graves	96
Gray	113
Gronquist	109
Growe	48
Gruenhagen	54
Guest	96
Gustafson	106
Hagberg	55, 65, 105
Hall	28, 81
Hallett	13
Hallquist	104
Halstead	96
Hammerstein	104
Hartley	7, 38, 117
Hautala	106
Hayes	19
Hazen	96
Headman	58
Heald	11
Hegblom	109
Hemstead	75, 89, 105
Hickman	56
Hill	106
Hitt	13
Hoffman	29, 49
Holland	7, 8
Hostager	99
Howard	96
Howe	8, 67
Imgrund	23
Ingersoll	113
Jacobson	17
Jamieson	120
Jeffrie	102
Johnson	17, 104
Johnstone	100, 103, 111
Jones	27
Kalucha	17, 76
Karlson	106
Kaupp	22
Kerben	83
Kindred	8, 19, 21, 69, 70, 96
Kittleson	106
Kleinschmidt	83
Kober	64
Koop	27, 105
Krantz	106
LaBar	103, 113
Larkin	83
Larson	17, 49, 109
Lauer	52
Lawlor	45
Lease	17
Lee	71,83
Lind	111
Lindbergh	119
Linneman	126
Lively	99
Loeb	106
Longfellow	91
Low	13, 96
Lowey	38
Lum	95
Lutz	64
Lyscio	106
Lytle	44
Mahlum	73, 102, 105
Marchel	106
Martin	76
Mast	106
McArthur	118
McColl	30
McComas	106
McFadden	103
McGinn	55, 79
McKay	13, 40, 110, 124
McNaughton	76
Menz	17
Merritt	40
Meyers	65
Midgley	98
Miller	40
Mills	55, 102
Mix	40
Mohler	83
Molstad	105
Mondor	65
Morss	106
Mulrine	39, 96
Murphy	38, 111
Murray	101
Mysen	111
Nelson	15, 31, 52, 64, 81, 99
Ness	28
Nevers	105
Nicholson	90
Nolan	34
Nordin	90
Norquist	105
Novotney	106
Nygaard	106
Nyquist	109
O'Brien	8, 114, 116
O'Connor	102
Olsen	28
Olson	17, 109
Orne	105
Osdale	102
Paine	13, 40, 55
Parker	8, 21, 74, 102
Passmore	15
Peaslee	71
Peter	17
Petersen	78
Peterson	39, 79, 106
Pickering	71
Pierce	59
Pike	11
Ponth	109
Porwall	106
Pryde	119
Quinn	83
Reilly	32, 83
Reimestad	89, 90
Ribbel	92
Riley	113
Risk	81
Robertson	78
Rofidal	106, 110
Rosko	104
Rosser	96
Rowley	83
Russell	74, 124
Sanborn	29
Schaefer	59
Schrader	17
Schwartz	8, 68
Schwendeman	71
Shanks	98
Shaw	96
Sheridan	46
Sherwood	105
Shew	106
Shoaff	44
Sleeper	96, 114
Slipp	54
Smart	33
Smith	7, 12, 23, 46, 49, 74, 76, 83, 94, 96, 105, 113
Smythe	31
Snell	25
Snyder	96
Steece	83
Stendal	72
Strobel	83
Strong	71
Stutsman	106
Summers	40
Swanson	104, 109, 126
Swartz	103, 120
Swisher	57
Tebekoke-   chickwabe	118
Thabes	49, 88
Thompson	78
Tornstrom	42
Toumi	106
Trask	61
Treglawny	47
Trent	102, 105
Trudell	107
Tsenes	62
Turcotte	49
Tyler	105
Vadnais	106
VanDoren	125
Vaughan	105
Vemos	62
Viken	83
Vilas	71
Villard	19
Vose	112
Warlof	65
Warner	105
Wayt	71
Webb	97, 113
West	52, 120
White	7, 26, 40, 102, 105
Whitlock	58, 106
Whitney	46
Wicklund	79
Wieland	113
William	31
Willie	105
Wilson	96
Wise	23, 51, 114
Wood	109
Zander	61
Zapffe	126
Ziebell	110