Itasca Village Townsite

Itasca Village Townsite (HM1BPJ)

Location: Ramsey, MN 55303 Anoka County
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Country: United States of America
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N 45° 14.765', W 93° 30.264'

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Inscription
Itasca grew up around an Indian trading post which was established 800 feet east of here in 1849 by Thomas A. Holmes and James Beatty. At the suggestion of Territorial Governor Alexander Ramsey, the settlement was named in honor of Lake Itasca, the source of the Mississippi River. In 1852 a substantial hotel was built, the village was platted, and Itasca boasted the first post office in present Anoka County. There was even an unsuccessful attempt to locate the territorial capital here.

Itasca was a stopping place on the heavily traveled Red River Oxcart Trail between Pembina, North Dakota, and the steamboat landing in St. Paul. In 1857 cargoes of fur, buffalo robes, and meat valued at $120,000 arrived at St. Paul, and in 1858 more than 600 carts plied the trade. Traces of the old trail can be seen a few feet west of this marker.

The village's prosperity began to wane in 1856, when the removal of the roving Winnebago Indians from the Long Prairie Reservation took away the mainstay of local trade. By the eary 1860s the town was virtually deserted.

Itasca remained a post office until 1879, and it was the first mailing address of the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry, better known as the National Grange. This farm organization was founded by Oliver H. Kelley, who opened a Grange office in his home near here in 1868. For two years he mailed through the Itasca post office vast amounts of literature encouraging farmers to join the Grange.

seal of State of Minnesota Department of Highways
seal of The Minnesota Historical Society, Instituted 1849

Erected by the Anoka County Historical Society
1966
Details
HM NumberHM1BPJ
Tags
Marker NumberAN-RMC-008
Year Placed1966
Placed ByThe Anoka County Historical Society
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Friday, October 17th, 2014 at 7:56pm PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)15T E 460416 N 5010411
Decimal Degrees45.24608333, -93.50440000
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 45° 14.765', W 93° 30.264'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds45° 14' 45.90" N, 93° 30' 15.84" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)763, 612
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 9340 Hwy 10 NW, Ramsey MN 55303, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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