Willmar tribune., 1911-07-05
Holland was So named ia 1888 by

#SS Holland was SO named ii 1888 ~
the Dutch settlers in honor Of the
land Of their birth. Il
The river Of which the three main
branches either rise in or flow thru
the county was called Grow by both
the Dakota and Chippewa Indians.
The latter called it Undeg and the
former Karishon.,
Solomon and Foot Lakes were both
named for the intrepid frontiersman
Solomon Foot, who lived here in the
early days. Diamond Lake was SO
called by the St. Johns townsite pro-
moters for its sparkling clear wat
er. Calhoun Lake was named for
the first settler on it's shores, who
located a cattle ranch there, but was
killed in a runaway at St. Cloud in
1861. Minnetoga is Dakota word
meaning "frothy water" Kasota
means a bare plateau or hill and
Waconda is from the Dakota word
Waukawn, or sacred. Eagle Lake,
and many lakes for that matter, was
originally lined with great cedar
trees and here were nests of the Am
erican eagle.
Nest Lake derived it's name from
the colonies Of black-jacks or cor
morants and blue herons which in
untold numbers formerly nested in
the trees OH the larger island. Lake
Florida was so named by the Nor
way Lake settlers for NO other rca-
son apparently than that it lay to
the south Of their settlement.
George Lake was named for
George Kouts, and Woodcock lake
for E. I. Woodcock, the first settler
of the county. Dozen of the small
er lakes are known by the names of
the early settlers on the shores of
same, or by some natural character
istics there being three Long Lakes,
several Mud Lakes, etc.
Of the villages not otherwise ac-
counted for, Atwater received it's
name in honor Of E. D. Atwater, sec
retary Of the land department. of the
st. Paul & Pacific Railway Co. Spi-
Ger and Raymond were named in
honor Of members of the family that
owned the townsites. Hawick was
named by General Mgr. Marvel of
the St. P. NJ. & M. Ry., from city
in Scotland. Lintonville was named
for Mr.. Linton, a contractor who
helped build the 500 road in 1866.
Georgeville was moved from our
county to the 500 road in 1886 and
derives it's name originally from Jor-
gen Postmyhr, the patriarch Of the
first Norwegian Burbank settlement.
Sunburg was SO named by Ole Ella
son. Pennock was named for Geo.
Pennock in 1891, the latter then be
ing division superintendent Of the
Ct. N. Ry., at Willmar. Previous to
that time the station was known as
st. Johns, but two towns on the
railroad system had this name,
and that led to the change Svea
derives its name from the Swedish
Lutheran congregation that built it's
church and parsonage there.
To try to enumerate all the names
Of minor points in the county would
be entirely too tedious, There are
hundreds more Of them that might
be mentioned, lakes, streams, post
Offices, dozens now discontinued }
churches, schools, etc. To illustrate
hew sometimes most fanciful name
given in jest will stick to COM
munity, one might relate the origin
Of the name Tripolis in south Kan
diyohi. One of the fist settlers of
the Kandiyohi settlement, John
Hawkinson, imagined that the Little
Kandiyohi lake was the Mediterran-
can Sea and named the three claims
lying south Of the same as Tunis,
Algiers and Tripolis, the three Bar
barry states. Gustaf Johnson's claim
was the one called Tripolis, it be-
came a permanent place and the
neighborhood is known as Tripolis
to this day and one Of the churches
Of the vicinity has perpetuated the
designation in it's charter name.