Thief River Falls
| Thief River Falls, Minnesota | |
|---|---|
| City | |
Soo Line depot, now City Hall
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 Location of the city of Thief River Falls within Pennington County, Minnesota |
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| Coordinates: 48°7′N 96°11′W / 48.117°N 96.183°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Minnesota |
| County | Pennington |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Brian Holmer |
| Area | |
| • Total | 5.21 sq mi (13.49 km2) |
| • Land | 5.02 sq mi (13.00 km2) |
| • Water | 0.19 sq mi (0.49 km2) |
| Elevation | 1,132 ft (345 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 8,573 |
| • Estimate (2013) | 8,716 |
| • Density | 1,707.8/sq mi (659.4/km2) |
| Time zone | Central (CST) (UTC-6) |
| • Summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
| ZIP code | 56701 |
| Area code(s) | 218 |
| FIPS code | 27-64570 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0653129 |
| Website | citytrf.net |
Thief River Falls, also called Thief River or TRF, is a city in Pennington County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 8,573 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat.
Thief River Falls takes its name from a geographic feature, the falls of the Red Lake River at its confluence with the Thief River. The name of the river is a loose translation of the Ojibwe phrase Gimood-akiwi ziibi, literally, the "Stolen-land river" or "Thieving-land river", which originated when a band of Dakota Indians occupied a secret encampment along the river, hence "stealing" the land, before being discovered and routed by the neighboring Ojibwe. In the Treaty of Old Crossing of 1863, the Moose Dung's Indian Reservation was established on the west bank of the Thief River, at its confluence with Red Lake River. This Indian Reservation was dissolved in 1904 and their population incorporated as part of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa.
Thief River Falls marked the limit of navigation on the Red Lake River. The eponymous town site was established in 1887 and later incorporated as a city in 1896. Thief River Falls first developed as a lumber-milling town. It is located in a major agriculture area because of the rich soil left by ancient Glacial Lake Agassiz. The Great Northern and the Soo Line railroads brought prosperity when Thief River Falls became a center for shipping wheat.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 5.21 square miles (13.49 km2), of which 5.02 square miles (13.00 km2) is land and 0.19 square miles (0.49 km2) is water.
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