Morrison County, Minnesota

Morrison County, Minnesota
Morrison County Courthouse
Location in the U.S. state of Minnesota
Minnesota's location in the U.S.
Founded	February 25, 1856
Named for	William and Allan Morrison
Seat	Little Falls
Largest city	Little Falls
Area
• Total	1,153 sq mi (2,986 km2)
• Land	1,125 sq mi (2,914 km2)
• Water	28 sq mi (73 km2), 2.5%
Population (est.)
• (2015)	32,775
• Density	30/sq mi (12/km²)
Congressional district	8th
Time zone	Central: UTC-6/-5
Website	www.co.morrison.mn.us

Morrison County is a county located in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2010 census, the population was 33,198. Its county seat is Little Falls.

First the Dakotah and then the Ojibwe Indians lived in the central Minnesota area around the Mississippi River. French and English fur traders and voyageurs traveled through Minnesota from the 17th century to the 19th century. They used the river to transport their goods and trade with the natives. The county was named for fur trading brothers, William and Allan Morrison.

Three prominent explorers lead expeditions along the river through the area that would be known as Morrison County in the 19th century. Zebulon Montgomery Pike came through in 1805. Governor Lewis B. Cass led an expedition through the area in 1820. Joseph N. Nicollet, explorer and scientist, had created the first accurate map of the area along the river in 1836.

Missionaries were some of the areas first European settlers. Methodist missionaries settled temporarily along the Little Elk River in 1838. The Reverend Frederic and Elisabeth (Taylor) Ayer moved to the Belle Prairie area in 1849. They started a mission and school there for the Ojibwe. Father Francis Xavier Pierz came to the area in 1852 and started many communities in central Minnesota, including Sobieski and Rich Prairie (later renamed Pierz) in Morrison County.

The event that prodded further development of the county was the building of Fort Ripley. In order to construct this military outpost, a dam and sawmill were erected in 1849 by the Little Falls Mill and Land Company. This company was formed by James Green, Allan Morrison, Henry M. Rice, John Irvine, John Blair Smith Todd, and Napoleon Jackson Tecumseh Dana. Fort Ripley was built ostensibly to protect the Winnebago Indians, who had been relocated by Henry Rice from Iowa to central Minnesota west of the Mississippi River, between the Crow Wing and Long Prairie rivers. Rice hoped the Winnebago would act as a buffer between the warring Ojibwe and Dakotah Indians. His plan was unsuccessful and the Winnebago were moved to the Blue Earth River in southern Minnesota in 1855.