page_title: Hinckley, Minnesota
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Hinckley, Minnesota / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Hinckley Fire Museum &amp; water tower, 106 Old Highway 61, Hinckley, Minnesota, USA. Viewed from the northeast. This is an image of a place or building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States of America. Its reference number is 73000992
context_page_description: Hinckley is a city in Pine County, Minnesota, United States, located at the junction of Interstate 35 and Minnesota State Highway 48. The population was 1,800 at the 2010 census.
  Hinckley's name in the Ojibwe language is Gaa-zhiigwanaabikokaag, meaning "the place abundant with grindstones" due to being located along the Grindstone River. Portions of the Mille Lacs Indian Reservation are located within and adjacent to Hinckley.
  On September 1, 1894, the Great Hinckley Fire killed more than 400 people.
  Hinckley is generally considered the halfway point on Interstate 35 between Minneapolis–Saint Paul and Duluth.
context_section_description: The Ojibwe Indians were the first people to settle the Hinckley area.  They trapped and hunted on the land and traded furs at the Mille Lacs and Pokegama trading posts.
  When European settlers came to the Hinckley area, it was a heavily forested area with thick forests of white pine, some of the largest in the state. The first railroad arrived in Hinckley in 1869; and so began a logging and railroad expansion.
  Hinckley was founded as the Village of Central Station in 1885, the village was re-incorporated as the City of Hinckley in 1907. Both names were after Hinckley Township where the city is located within.  Surrounding Hinckley Township was known as Central Station by the railroads because of its position halfway between the Twin Ports of Duluth and Superior as well as the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.  Hinckley Township was named in 1870 after Isaac Hinckley, president of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad.
  By 1894, Hinckley was a prosperous community that had everything needed to serve residents and the fast-expanding lumber industry.
  On September 1, 1894, everything changed with a firestorm wiping out Hinckley and many northeastern Minnesota towns. Today the Hinckley Fire Museum, nine blocks west of Interstate 35 in downtown Hinckley, tells the devastating story of what came to be called the Great Hinckley Fire and the town's recovery from it. The museum is located in a restored railroad depot downtown, an exact replica of the pre-fire depot, built just after the fire.
  After the fire, the burned stumps of the forests were cleared to take advantage of the now nutrient-rich soil. Hinckley's recovery would hinge on agriculture. Some of the main crops were potatoes, fruits and vegetables. The early harvests were bountiful.  Abundant clover helped feed milk cows for a brisk dairy industry.
  Following the national trend in farming, Hinckley has lost most of its agricultural underpinnings.
  The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe opened Grand Casino Hinckley in 1992.
caption: The Hinckley Fire Museum and Hinckley water tower
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