Chisago Lakes

Chisago Lakes is an area of Chisago County, Minnesota along Highway 8. The Chisago Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce includes the combined areas of Shafer, Center City, Chisago City, and Lindström.

The Chisago Lakes Area is named after an Indian phrase, "Ki Chi Saga," which means "fair & lovely waters." The Swedish simply called it "The Big Lake," as many of today's lakes were once one large lake. Swedish immigrants settled in the Chisago Lakes area in the mid-19th century. The area became a popular tourist area, with the lakes and railroad coming through. The Depression years dried up the lakes and the tourists. There was a growth of tourism in the late 1940s, as the lakes began to prosper once again.

Sister-city to Algutsboda, Sweden

Originally platted in 1855, Chisago City was replatted at another location in 1892 and incorporated in 1906. Chisago City became a tourist resort destination after the 1880 railroad was built. Chisago City was home to Vilhelm Moberg during the summer of 1947, while he rode his bike through the area researching for what would become his four-volume saga of Swedish Immigrants in North America, The Emigrants suite: The Emigrants, Unto a Good Land, The Settlers and The Last Letter Home. The city has dedicated a park and a statue, housed in the park, to Vilhelm Moberg.

Sister-City to Hassela, Sweden

Center City was founded in 1851 and was the first permanent Swedish settlement in Minnesota. It became the county seat in 1875. The Chisago Lakes Lutheran Church was the first Swedish settled church in the area, being organized in 1854 in the barn of Per Berg. Highway 8 follows much of the old railroad bed through the city of Center City. Today, two blocks along Summit Avenue, including 18 homes, form a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

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